The smoke was shoved to the side as two new pillars appeared in the turbulent battlefield. Like the god’s own mighty spear two ice spears shone in the early morning sun.
Their impacts were no less grand than the first.
Two brilliant lights illuminated the battlefield.
Storgaard grimaced, she had seen many sights in her life, this was one of the largest displays of attack magic she had ever seen.
She pulled out a telescope and looked to the east, focusing on a strange line that was moving across the ground.
“They’re charging into it still?” Spell scrolls were activated, great winds were summoned forming a wall in front of the mounted forces, creating a clear area around them.
At the same time many were pulling out strange crossbow looking weapons and attaching them to the backs of their mounts.
Spells appeared ahead of the force, rain fell, pushing the dust down.
“Fuck me,” Storgaard’s telescope rested on what had been Camp Delta, Bravo and Emily. The camps were nothing more than smoking craters.
The rapidly heating spear of ice must have gone off in a massive explosion. The shield protected them some. You can see how the ground was washed away outside of where the barrier once stood. The power of those spell scrolls, combined, they’re enough to crack open cities from the Third Realm. Even outpost towns in the Fourth.
“Keep up fire on Samantha! Prepare our people to retake the outer walls!” Gudriksson barked behind her. His orders broke her out of her thoughts as she swallowed and looked at the mounted charge rushing towards the Institute on both sides.
***
Elder Mendes looked at the smoking craters that remained of their forward camp and two rear camps.
He’d felt the power of the attack as it raged against his own mana barrier.
Elder Xiao, all the elites, other than the ones here and at Reynir, they’re gone!
He stumbled slightly, his body numb and weak with shock.
He heard noises nearby but his hearing had dulled with the explosion. People were walking around, opening their mouths, but he couldn’t hear anything they were saying. He saw his soldiers from Meokar, shaking, some dropping their weapons in fear or just standing there, watching, as if they couldn’t understand what was happening.
He felt someone smack him on the shoulder, returning him to reality. They turned him and passed him a health potion.
Seeing his guard captain there Mendes came back to himself and drank the potion.
In a moment, the world came back in as it was filled with noise, people yelling at one another, unable to hear, rocks under massive heat, exploding while Reynir’s attacks continued and rain started to pour down.
“Grand Elder, you’re in command now!” His guard captain yelled. “What are your orders?”
Mendes took a step backwards, shuddering.
“Elder Xiao?” He asked.
“The camp is gone Elder!” The guard captain said.
“Pull them back! We’ll regroup!”
“What is that?” An Elder asked.
“Elder!” Mendes’ reprimand died in his throat as rain fell.
Through the smoke shapes started to appear.
“What are those?” Someone asked.
“Flags?”
“There’s a force in the smoke!”
“We can’t hold, we just lost all our elites, we only have a quarter of the army left and they’re all infantry.”
"Those aren't the legions of the Grey Peak Sect," Mendes said, trying to bolster their spirits.
"No, that’s the Adventurer's Guild," Elder Tsi pointed from the group they were watching and toward the wall.
Mendes felt fear grip him as he saw the guild charging towards their remaining camps. The sudden finality of losing half of their camps in just one second. Then seeing the enemy pushing out right afterwards. Pinning in their advanced forces, splitting the camps apart.
Where did they get so many people, they don't look weak. They’re coordinated with tactics that can work against massive armies.
Mendes pulled his guard captain to him.
"Send the order, pull back to Meokar."
"Sir?"
"We will ride ahead I will need to communicate to the rest of the Institute to ready reinforcements."
The guard captain's face closed up as he nodded.
"Yes Grand Elder. I'll prepare our mounts right away."
***
Thunder filled Domonos' ears. He felt his mount's muscles moving underneath him, his people riding beside him.
The Alvan Army members kept their people lined up and in order. Mages were using weather magic to clear the area ahead of them.
"Mounted unit one heading to the breaches!"
"Unit two moving to Samantha!"
"Looks like we're heading into hell." Domonos turned to Niemm who was grinning like a madman, his other special team guard was the same.
Domonos felt his lips spreading into a grin.
"To hell we go!"
Siege weapons of all kinds continued to bombard the camps.
"Shifting siege weapon fire!" Zukal reported.
The attacks rolled back across the enemy.
Spells shot out at the mounted force. Mana barriers were revealed, rippling with hits.
"Looks like they noticed us."
"Not soon enough to save their people in the breaches," Domonos opened his channel to the rear camp strike force.
"Use those spell scrolls, if you have them!"
Spell scrolls were torn apart, light appearing among the riders. Spell formations snapped into existence, spewing fireballs, lava spears, burning meteors, fire's rain.
Blue and Red flames ignited the air around the mounted force.
Like a rocket barrage they struck out at the rear camps, people were tearing the spell scrolls as fast as they could.
"The rear gates are opening!" A commander reported.
Domonos looked at the map watching markers fleeing the camp.
"Their mounted forces are leaving."
"Are they turning to fight?" Domonos demanded.
"The smoke makes it hard to see. No, no they're not turning, they're running right for the woods!" The commander yelled.
Domonos opened up a channel to everyone.
"Did you hear that? They're running! The Willful Institute is running scared! Listen to your leaders orders! For the fallen!"
"For the fallen!" people yelled back.
Domonos watched the forces moving under his command. Units moved to reinforce the walls, and cut off the retreat for the Institute members that breached Reynir. There were designated units to attack the remaining camps. Another force to hunt down the retreating Institute forces.
They don't have many mounted members left. I'd bet they'd race back to the safety of Meokar without caring for the allies they leave behind. The smoke is clearing enough for us to see further.
"Get into formation, speed buffs!" Spell scrolls were broken, light descended upon the different units and their beasts.
Their speed climbed, beasts jumping over craters on the ground, other craters were too big and people moved into formations while they traversed these miniature valleys.
Units separated into their own formations.
Breaching units gained more buffs, in groups of four they surged ahead, weaving around golems that were still fighting one another. As Units closed with them, spells and arrows shattered their cores and broke their animating spells.
"Unit one has reached the breaches!"
Domonos spared a glance, the mounted forces were a spear through the Institute's heart.
Disorganized and recovering from the blasts, they didn't stand a chance. The main force charged through the lines, sub units split off, heading through the breaches, closing off any chance of retreat.
"Mid-wall forces heading out!"
Bear Legions from the Grey Peak Sect and mounted forces from the supporting Sects charged out from the middle
wall gates.
Mana barriers stop magic, but not people.
"Storgaard is asking if we will accept surrender," Jasper asked on the channel between, Mister Yi, Domonos and Zukal.
"Yes, we will. Zukal make sure that you broadcast through everyone to take surrenders. Jasper, might do good to come from you and Storgaard."
"Yes."
"Understood."
"We're closing, sir," Niemm yelled.
Domonos checked the map of the camp.
Several breacher units were out front, larger units followed in their wake.
The camp was coming back to itself, firing everything they had at the Guild.
The ground exploded ahead of the unit. Mounted beasts went down in cries of pain, their ankles broken from the sudden change of ground.
Domonos' mount shifted to the side, the formation shifted.
Secondary formations with beast tamers, mages, healers and engineers moved to assist.
"Breaching units are getting in range!"
"Cover them!" Domonos yelled.
They held onto their mounted repeaters and fired at the wall of the camps.
It looked like a tropical storm coming down over a lake. It was impossible to see through the barrier with so many impacts striking it.
The Breaching teams used the covering fire to get in close to Camp Bravo.
They tossed out formation plates that stuck to the walls and rushed away.
"Alpha, Bravo Company covering fire. Charlie, Delta, into the breaches!"
Frost appeared underneath the formations, spreading across the walls, rushing out tens of meters a second.
They seemed to reach their limit after ten seconds. Domonos thought he heard a cracking noise.
Cracks appeared under the formation, creating a web that ran across the wall.
The stone walls shattered, collapsing into rubble no larger than a man's fist.
Alpha and Bravo Company spread out, shooting their repeaters, keeping the defenders blind.
Mages at the lead of Charlie and Delta Company used stone fuse spell scrolls. The rubble from the breaches turned into a ramp inviting the mounted forces into the heart of the camp.
Company commanders took over.
Squads acted as support, firing their repeaters into the camp.
Others leapt off of their mounts, in the camp, there were many obstacles the beasts couldn't get through.
Squads of shield warriors stepped up, creating an iron wall for the long range fighters.
Melee units were ready to support either group as needed.
Spell scrolls were deployed in the heart of the camp. The ground lurched up and down, tossing people up into the air, destabilizing the camp and breaking up the Institute's units that had pulled themselves together.
Mages cast group magic together on formations. Spears of magical power struck out at the camp's mana barrier, a secondary barrier lit up with the attacks.
The Shield units under the flanking cover of the repeaters pushed forward. Melee units and ranged followed them.
"Alpha company collapse into the camp! I want a casualty collection point on the stone watchtower foundations next to the breach."
The repeater squads fired out into the camp, using spell scrolls on anything that moved and wasn't friendly.
Friendly forces pushed through the breaches, and pushed out to either side, linking up to the other units, clearing out the siege weapons and soldiers along the walls.
"Collapse all outside units," Domonos ordered, a line formed, pushing through the camp, shield warriors were in the lead, followed by lighter armored melee types, archers and mages.
Members of the Willful Institute couldn't take the swift changes. With their leaders rushing towards Meokar the camp was leaking people.
Battle lines were quickly formed and started to advance.
Shield warriors led the way, backed up by their fellow guild members.
They aren't a trained military, but they make their living off of fighting. With some basic formation training they're crude, but much stronger than if they were to operate in just their parties.
Domonos looked up at the mana barrier, there was not one ripple in it as Reynir's attacks had stopped, fearing to hit their allies.
"Colonel, the groups that breached Reynir are surrendering one after another. We have breached all of the camps."
"The Institute leadership?"
"Still retreating towards Meokar."
"Move to stage two."
"Yes sir, I'll ready our people."
Chapter: Turbulence for the Willful Institute
"Well it looks like none of our people made it into the top ten this year," Blaze complained to Gu Chen.
"Ah, well we were up against sects this year. They have plenty of resources and connections we don't have. Next year with Vuzgal's training facilities I'm sure we'll do better!"
"That is true and your Silver Dragons got ten spots in the top one hundred!"
"Not close to your sixteen!"
"With our two guilds together we took a quarter of the top one hundred spots. That's not bad!" Blaze laughed.
Erik and Rugrat got up from where they were sitting.
"I have to go deal with a few issues that appeared while the competition was ongoing."
"I understand, I hope you resolve your issues. Let me know if the Silver Dragons can assist you."
"Thank you, Brother Gu," Blaze cupped his hands to Gu Chen.
Blaze left the box, as the competition had ended and the rewards passed out, Blaze didn't look back.
This year the competition was the last thing on all our minds.
***
Cai Bo looked over as Lower Elder Kostic walked back to his seat.
"Good, we can head to meet with our allies. While we only had two people in the top ten it isn't that bad Kostic."
"High Elder Cai Bo, the head has requested us to return immediately."
"We can use this to gain trade contracts and re-establish our position," Cai Bo frowned.
Elder Kostic made sure that his sound cancelling formation was active.
"A group of Institute members attacked a High Elder two days ago. We got a report from Meokar. The army there has been gutted, less than four thousand remain."
What happened?
"Will we hold Meokar?"
"Doubtful, the enemy is organized. They can fight in formations, like our own armies. I was informed that a group of mounted Grey Peak Sect and Adventurer Guild members departed Reynir."
"What about our own mounted forces?"
"They were the first target, then Elder Xiao and one of the forward camps. They used spell scrolls and formations together to make a peak seventh level spell."
"Spell?"
"Yes, High Elder, it took one combined spell for each of the camps."
"What will happen to Meokar?"
"It seems that the High Elders want to fight, but the Head has passed an order. We will retreat from Meokar, taking everything that we can."
"And the Adventurer's Guild?" Cai Bo looked at the main box to see Blaze leaving with his guards.
"The head believes this is an act of war. He has offered bounties on the Adventurer's Guild members."
***
Storgaard fought to keep her face neutral as Reynir's totem flashed again as units marched out. They followed other units out of Reynir and towards Meokar.
Now that the Willful Institute has taken a heavy loss the other sects, seeing a weak opponent are more than happy to send their units over to get greater rewards from Meokar's carcass.
The totem flashed again, this time revealing a small group wearing cloaks. Jasper walked out to greet them, Storgaard a half step behind.
"Blaze, I hope we placed well."
Blaze, a large man pulled back his hood revealing some of his armor underneath.
"Got some spots, how are things here?"
"The guild and Grey Peak Sect are advancing through the forest between us and
Meokar. We've rounded up five thousand prisoners from the breaches, and three thousand we caught on the run."
"How long until we reach Meokar?"
"By tonight, we're moving slowly to make sure there are no traps."
"Understandable," Blaze nodded and then smiled to Storgaard.
"Sorry for my rudeness, you must be branch leader Storgaard," Blaze reached out his hand.
"Guild Leader Blaze," She shook his hand and bowed.
Some small guild my ass.
"I'm sorry to trouble you like this, I wanted to see how things are progressing personally."
"I am thankful I got to meet with the Adventurer's Guild and fight beside you."
"We might yet have some more chances, seems that people are eager to grow into the Willful Institute's land."
***
Grand Elder Mendes looked haggard, all around him people with the Willful Institute's emblem were rushing around with storage crates.
Formations were being pulled from the ground, ingredients harvested early. Workshops were dismantled and books were packed away.
Meokar's totem didn't stop working night and day as people evacuated and the remaining wealth of the Institute was shipped off to other locations.
Anything of worth was ripped out of the city, the once orderly streets were lifeless, random objects were tossed out. Those that were too poor to use the totem fled into the surrounding country-side, hiding in the ingredient farms under Meokar.
"No more members of the army have appeared in several hours," Mendes' Guard Captain said.
"Secure the gates and make sure the mana barrier is active." Mendes said looking at the grand table where he had controlled Meokar from for decades. He sat where he had decided the fate of hundreds of thousands of people. Where he had passed judgement down on the group of adventurer's that some of his disciples had murdered and stolen from. Turning the other eye as they would bolster the power of the Fourth Realm and reflect well on his branch.
It all seems so useless now. How did the Adventurer's Guild get such powerful weapons and experts?
Sixth Realm Page 103