Bright and early the next morning, before the unit had even begun their daily training, a rider arrived from the Sylvan main line at a full gallop with a letter for Lieutenant Priya.
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“Not initially, by there are four more units being sent to bridge the gap between main lines, plus whatever Morgana Coven sends, if they send anything.” The messenger replied, shaking her head.
“What do you mean if they send anything?” Priya asked.
“Their main line was using the drafted soldiers and witches as shock troops, straight to the thick of battle against every attack, with no backup from their career soldiers and Defence Forces who remained on the back lines.
The last time I passed by their main lines, they had suffered mass desertion, and the survivors of the draftees were killing Morgana Coven military patrols and messengers on sight.
They even came after me until they saw the uniform, and some big goon named Elder Noxus ordered them to stand down.”
Wolfe chuckled grimly as he heard that and wondered what the city was thinking about their battle recruitment strategy now. Any idiot from the lower levels could have told them that you can’t just send a bunch of gangsters to their deaths while you sit back and expect them not to retaliate.
“Something funny, soldier?” The message rider asked.
“I’m a Noxus Family Elder as well. Or I was before they banished me from the city. If the Noxus Family has defected, the Morgana line probably doesn’t have any Guardians from the city left. The man you met will have taken everyone from a mundane family with him if they survived the Monster Tide.
Even though this location was supposed to be a Morgana camp, it was deserted when we arrived. Any forces that they have left are from the villages, or Academy Student Witches who never learned to hold a sword, only wield magic.”
The rider let out a string of profanity that made all of the soldiers in the area do a double take, then she took off at a full gallop, casting spells on her mount as she left.
“Is it really that bad?” Priya asked, looking to Cassie for verification.
“Our Family basically controls an entire floor of the city. If our Elders have turned on the Coven out here, I can only imagine what must be happening with the other Families whose people have been sent to the line or inside the city itself.
We have agreements that date back to the founding of the Fortress Cities, and we stick together against outside threats.” Cassie explained.
Priya sighed and gave a mentally crushed look at Wolfe.
“The Monster Tide is coming in force, two hundred kilometres wide and looking for a weak spot to break through and reach the abundant food source better known as the people living on the land behind us. If any single spot falls, everyone is in danger. That’s what the message was about.”
“Then we had better hope either my mother or the Commander of the military knows what they are doing. It’s not the first time they’ve used a draft to kill off troublemakers from the lower floors and political enemies.” Reiko suggested.
“That’s true. But it’s terrible timing.” Ilyas reminded her with anger flashing in her eyes.
Only minutes after the first rider left, another one arrived, this time from the south, behind the defensive lines. Priya read the letter and began to relax a little compared to the tension after the first message.
“The other four groups are on their way, and they are bringing us upgraded barrier artifacts suitable for a mainline position. They can accept a huge amount of mana in advance to keep the barrier up, so we can have the unit channel into them all day long as training.”
That was good news. Depending on how big the Array was, they might be able to blockade multiple kilometres at a time or even link up with the other units’ defences.
“Is there a reason that they’re using letters? There’s a radio right there in your pocket that is relaying messages all day long.” Wolfe asked.
“Not all humans are friendly, and not all of the denizens of the wastes are incapable of using a radio. This is the only truly secure way. If anyone who isn’t the designated messenger or recipient touches the letter, it erases itself.” Priya explained, then straightened up into what Wolfe recognized as her internal ‘Commander Mode’ to start giving orders.
“Everyone listen up. We will be pushing hard on the spell training today. Earth spells are easiest for most Witches, so with that in mind, we will be working on your [Earth Shield] and [Diamond Blade] Spells.
Once you have those two mastered, you can use them in the phalanx, as well as for your personal defence.” She instructed the unit, then had Amanda take Wolfe’s team aside to learn more utility spells using Witch Magic since they had already mastered earth barriers and the military-grade Elemental Blades.
They were actually quite a simple spell, and keeping them separate instead of extending your armour over your weapon allowed you to attack without depleting your defences. Wolfe had managed to learn the base spell and the Elements that he could use in under an hour while he was trying to work out which enchantments would be best on his new rifle.
“No Earth spells for you?” Ilyas asked Wolfe, noticing he was only watching the practice.
“Nope. I can’t use Water or Air magic, either. But I will be working on a new spell from your tactics book that works with my magic.” Wolfe replied, then pulled out a copy of the book to make his statement true and keep up the image of the truthful Demon.
[Cluster Bomb] looked fun. It was a fire spell and tossed out dozens of small grenades, which exploded like miniature [Fireballs]
Mostly his duty in battle was going to be to keep up the [Lightning Storm Array], but learning more offensive magic was never a bad idea.
[Cluster Bomb] was incredibly simple, nothing more than splitting [Fireball] into smaller portions with a simple change in the circle. As soon as he looked it over, the Inheritance flashed the optimal rune pattern in his vision, and he knew that he could use it at will.
With that as his cover for the day, Wolfe began to search for a barrier that wouldn’t use as much mana. It was the attacks of the [Lightning Bolts] that had used the most mana when he used the Array in combat, so if he could just stop the enemies, it would be easier to sustain.
It looked like the Arrays were meant to be magical items, not a spell which the team cast, and nothing even remotely as powerful as the item that Priya had offered him was in the book.
Given time, he could modify the Array that he knew, but making it not cast Unholy Smite or Fireball on everyone who touched it instead of a Lightning Bolt would be much more difficult.
“Hey, you. Come grab this for your Lieutenant.” A musical female voice pulled Wolfe from his study.
“Sorry, I was doing a combat theory study. I’ll grab that now.” Wolfe explained, then tucked the spell book away and ran over to grab the bundle of poles that were similar to the ones around the camp.
“One every fifty meters. Link them to the teams on either side and have your Witches charge the barrier line with as much mana as much as possible. Don’t forget to tell them.” The rider ordered, then rode away.
“I heard the orders. I’ll have my squad place them.” One of the team leaders offered.
“Just be sure they link to the ones placed by the units on either side of us once they arrive since they will act as one spell.” Wolfe reminded her.
“I hope you didn’t have plans. These poles work the same way as the [Lighting Storm Array]. Control of the spell will go to the strongest participant, and you might not be weaker than any of the other team leaders that are linked to us.” She told him with a wink, then hurried off to set the barrier.