Wolfe was enhancing everyone’s auras through Stephanie over breakfast when the Inheritance gave him a notification.
[Demonic Bloodline Fifty Percent Complete]
[Bloodline Trait Efficiency Increased]
[Genetic Knowledge Unlocked: Telekinesis]
For Wolfe, it felt like Telekinesis wasn’t a spell but a category of Gravity Element spells. From the simple movement of items to uprooting trees or a gravity wave that would throw enemies away through the air, it could be used in dozens of ways, but they all created the same basic effect of changing the way Gravity affected an object.
Unless he crushed the enemy into the ground or squashed them in a gravity barrier, most of the uses were non-lethal, but Wolfe was certain they could be truly devastating when used right.
The radio continued to report steady to heavy attacks all up and down the lines, but for some reason, their portion of the line was very quiet all day long. At least it was calm until Priya’s unit returned back to camp from their turn on defence. Once they were gone from the line, the attacks began to pick up again within the hour.
It wasn’t enough to stress the defenders, but it was enough to give them a workout. Wolfe wasn’t the only one that had noticed something strange was going on either. He was still maintaining the barrier, and it was still full, so that couldn’t be the common denominator, but as soon as the defenders changed, the attacks began.
“Do you think it’s the presence of magic among our troops that is keeping them away? If that’s it, we should likely change our rotation so a third of every unit is on every shift.” Ilyas suggested.
“It could be. Why don’t we try having the Witches go to the front first and see if it deters the attacks? If that’s enough, there’s no need to change the rotation.” Priya replied, trying to make sense of the monsters’ behaviour.
The five Witches on duty moved up to the line, but it didn’t seem to change anything. If anything, the monsters seemed more excited when they noticed them.
That clearly wasn’t the difference.
“Maybe it’s the weapons? The Arrows are enchanted so that they will penetrate, but the enchantments on their gear aren’t active.” Priya pondered.
That was easy to test. Wolfe passed mana to Priya so she could activate the enchantments on all of their armour and weapons, the same as she did for her own unit.
The stifled moan at his mana-filled touch was exactly as much fun as he had hoped it would be.
The extra damage started to wipe out the monsters much faster, but it still didn’t deter the attacks. The Monster Tide was thick already, and it was looking like another rough evening, so Priya decided to help out a little, even if they couldn’t determine the cause of the quiet daytime shift.
ƥαṇdα- ηθνε|·ƈθm
The change was noticeable as soon as they started to shoot. The front lines continued to charge, but the ones further back diverged from the main pack and went to target other units.
“Dammit, I know what they are doing. They’ve realized Witches Auras mean danger, and they’re counting active auras to determine where to attack and which units should be easier prey.” Priya swore.
“So we mingle all three units to keep the line from getting overrun?” Ilyas asked.
“That might be fine for us, but what happens to everyone else when nothing ever attacks our portion of the line?” Reiko responded.
“Duty one is to not die. I say we split up. Two or three Witches and a third of our unit on every shift and see what the monsters do.” Ella spoke up, putting her practical spin on the situation.
“Ella is right. The monsters will spread out if they’re not here. Draw lots for who is on the first shift. One officer and one from the Demon’s team in each shift. I will let the other units know what we are doing, so they can adjust their numbers as well.”
Moving troops around so only a third of the unit was on the line brought a few more monsters back, but they had dealt with the early surge already, and it was nothing they couldn’t handle.
It was far better than the previous night. This time, they only had to face a light but steady stream of monsters, leaving the returning soldiers and Witches in much better shape, but the other two unit leaders were extremely annoyed about the clear favouritism shown by the usually enraged horde of monsters coming out of the Frozen Wastes.
Hundreds of kilometres away on the main defence line, the same development was noticed by the special forces teams. The monsters were actively avoiding them and targeting the weakest links not by total numbers but by magical power and the number of active Witch Auras.
It had them running frantically up and down the line, only for the problem to solve itself as soon as they arrived and begin somewhere else, often at the unit that they had just left.
The frustration was mounting, especially among the Morgana line, where desertion had already cost them dearly in raw manpower, and now their reinforcements were coming less frequently and in smaller and smaller units.
If the handheld radios that the units were using had reached that far, Wolfe would have heard many familiar names among the chatter about desertion and betrayal, but the big picture was only clear to the runners and the commanders that they were keeping up to date.
This was an intentional act so that the rest of the Covens and deployed forces didn’t panic when something happened along one section of the defensive line, but during this battle, with so many units leaving their post, it had become a nightmare for logistics.
The Myrrh and Sylvan Covens had considered completely overlapping the territory that Morgana Coven was supposed to protect so that the chaos in their ranks didn’t affect the safety of the other Covens’ people, but so far, they hadn’t come to a decision and had only sent reinforcements to areas that were under the heaviest attacks.
Morgana Coven’s territory wasn’t on the front line after all. They were closer to the coast and normally protected from direct assault by the other two Covens, but that also meant they only had to come help with the Monster Tide and not the day-to-day attacks.
Their troops should be well trained and well rested since they weren’t in constant battle, but they were dysfunctional, poorly equipped, and unreliable. It made no logical sense and could only be a result of their leadership group.
The fact they were putting on such a poor showing was not sitting well with the Covens that protected them on a daily basis. Questions were being raised about the desertion rate and the rumours of cruel tactics which had led to the recruits abandoning their duty.
Neither the Sylvan nor Myrrh Coven could afford to have thousands of rogue humans wandering around their territory and turning to banditry or worse in order to survive.