It was a tall, blonde Lieutenant in the defence force named Lee who was the first to breach the topic with Wolfe.
“What do you plan to do to get us ready to fight? We will beg you for strength if you want, I don’t think any of us would put her pride over vengeance anymore, but we can’t fight humans the way we learned to fight monsters.”
“We will fight them the same way the mutants do. Ambushes, hit and run techniques, and I will enchant enough guns for everyone by the time you’re all recovered enough to fight.
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Lee nodded. “They could help us recover with a mana injection, but we’ve seen that you can do much more. You can even help witches who can’t use mana at all, and some of us are very close to that state.
Those who couldn’t use any mana to begin with are still in the city. Since they didn’t have an aura to damage, they weren’t as badly affected by the nerve gas. They got a rash, but nothing like the blisters and burned lungs that magic users suffered.”
Perhaps losing their magic wasn’t the worst of it, but Wolfe would get this unit ready as fast as he could, so they could cut off the supply lines for the human army.
“Once we make it to the Den, I will start working with everyone. Guns are relatively easy to use if you aren’t aiming for a specific target, and when they’re enchanted, you just need to get close to your target for the [Fireball] to hit them.
I’m sure you will catch on quickly once we get started, and with a whole unit, we will be able to take them out in an instant. That’s the key to our tactics from now on. We will hit them hard enough that they can’t fight back, or we will attack them and then hide.
Since witches can use earth magic, you should be able to hide and build defences well enough, and an anti-magic bullet doesn’t do anything special to a sandbag.”
The witch chuckled at his words. “Who would have thought that one of the most important skills for us to have on the front lines was going to be construction?
A lot of the villages within Coven Territory have been digging trenches as well since they have a lot of non-magic users, and the village walls attracted too much attention from the army.”
That wasn’t a bad idea. Not necessarily trenches, but tunnels and pillbox bunkers to scout and attack from. The mutants would love them as well if he could find a way to close them from the inside, so the army couldn’t follow easily.
Wolfe had a good idea of how a hydraulic hoist worked, but actually building one was well beyond his skills. Maybe just hiding them with spells and foliage would be enough.
A network of bunkers to ambush from would be a nightmare for the mundane army. Even a few bursts using [Fireball] would cripple their mobility, and cause multiple casualties, without making it easy to find the source of the attack.
The Wastes always had a reputation for being a deadly barrier range, keeping the nations around them from expanding their borders, so a few more ambushed units along with the monster attacks wouldn’t be out of place.
While he thought of new ways to keep people out of the area, Wolfe carefully led the witches through the rugged terrain all night and made it to the cliff where the entrance to the Den should be just before morning.
[Stephanie, open up. The door has been blocked with rock, and I can’t use earth magic.] Wolfe requested as the unit drew to a stop.
[Sorry, we got worried when an army unit passed by earlier. They had a lot of scouts out, and they were fighting with the locals.] The Familiar Cat replied as she worked, and a narrow gap opened in the wall, allowing access to the tunnels beneath.
“Welcome, everyone. Follow me in, and you can drop your gear in the second room on the right. We will sort it out in the morning. Once that is done, head down the tunnel on the left, and Priya will show you to the sleeping chambers.”
If Priya was surprised to see so many witches, she hid it well. Though the area had been expanded, it was far from individual bedrooms. That was fine with the newly arrived witches. After so many days of constant attacks, the last thing they wanted was to wake up alone in the dark.
The decision was made that everyone was going to use the room that Priya had been in, and someone started building bunk beds out of branches and vines so they didn’t have to sleep on the ground.
In the refugee camp, there weren’t enough uninjured magic users, so they had been sleeping on the ground in large tents with a magical or wood-fired stove for heat. This room was one of the deeper ones and quite warm, even by indoor standards, allowing them to relax in the complete change of environment.
“Does everyone have a bunk?” Cassie asked as she finished up her share of the work.
“We’re all set. But I don’t see an empty bunk for you or Ella.” Someone called back.
“We prefer to share, so I’ll make one big one for the three of us,” Ella replied, making the witches giggle and Priya pout.
“You’ve had him for weeks. You’ll survive one night alone.” Cassie teased the Lieutenant, who was just returning from the storage room with a box of ration packs.
“Today, we have an assorted dinner box. Everyone grab a bag, first come, first serve.” She replied, ignoring the teasing.
Indeed she had spent quite a while with Wolfe, but they were both out and about every day, looking for enemies to report back, so they hadn’t had as much free time as she would have liked to build her power level.
