Karl took a moment to look around them, checking for bodies that needed to be looted, and any sign of additional attackers.
But what shocked him was the pure devastation that had occurred during the battle.
A swathe over five hundred metres per side had been razed by [Apocalypse]. There were deep furrows in the ground from attack skills, the earth was churned as if someone had been tilling it for planting, and the entire stand of trees where the Giants had been hiding no longer existed.
There was an excellent reason that the army did their best to keep the fighting to the border regions, and this was part of it.
Nothing survived a battle at this level, and if it happened in a resource rich region, or over top of growing crops, it would be difficult to recover from.
[All this mess, and we were just getting started. If they had more than one shaman with them, they would have been able to hold out much longer, but Cara killed the dumb one as soon as the fight started.] Rae noted.
[You might have just been getting started, but over on my end, I was doing all I could to keep them from killing the squishy people.] Karl reminded her.
[Good thing you’re not squishy. You took plenty of hits.] Cara reminded him.
[I am going to be sore tomorrow for certain. But I suspect that we’re not done fighting yet. They wouldn’t have scrambled us for this when they weren’t expecting us to be attacked the moment we stepped out.] Karl offered.
That got Cara and Rae excited. This had been a great fight, but it wasn’t nearly long enough. With the area attack that Remi dropped on the Giants, plus Cara busy attacking from behind, Rae only had to fight the Monarchs and the Overlords. But the Monarchs were already taking constant damage, and the Giants were ill-suited to dealing with a being as glorious as herself.
In contrast, Cara would happily maul the weaker Giants so she could loot their bodies. She had given away almost all the trinkets that she had collected when she went on a birthday gifting spree, and now she needed more stuff to fill her loot box.
Good stuff, broken stuff, shiny stuff. There was a place and time for it all.
Overlord Ahmad cleared his throat to get their attention, and smiled as Cara came over to nuzzle his hand. [This one smells like cat. It’s pretty good. I might have to trade sleeping spots with someone.] Cara noted.
[I am fairly sure that he sleeps alone.]
[Even better.]
“The target we were intending to find is five kilometres west of our location, and currently engaged by another strike force. The message just came through. We have planes scouring the area for Giants that might have evaded our patrols, but the strike team will need our assistance if they’re going to survive without casualties.” The Catman mage informed them.
Rae waited patiently for them to be ready, while Cara took the chance to check the ground one last time for loot. They had grabbed many of the bodies as they ran away, but there was a chance that there would still be valuables on the ground, as the Giants were not system users, so they didn’t have a storage space.
The Clerics climbed up on Thor’s back once the saddle Rae had made him was equipped, then Rae placed Dana on one Golem and Ahmad on the other.
That should cover everyone who didn’t have supernatural strength, and they were ready to move.
“Is this how you usually travel?” Ahmad asked, bemused by the actions of the Bloodbath Spider.
“Yeah. Mages and Clerics can’t run as fast as the rest of us, so we let them rest and have either Thor or the Golems provide transport.
That way they’re fully rested when we arrive, and we don’t have to slow down for them.” Karl explained.
The Overlord Rank mage smiled and nodded in agreement, though he had spells that would let him keep up with the group, and knew that Dana did as well.
Now that she was a Murim Battlemage, her physical skills were rapidly increasing. The martial arts aspect of her class was strong, and she had already possessed wind walking abilities.
But riding on the Golem was certainly easier. Plus, with eight legs, the ride was very smooth, you weren’t jostled around like you were on a horse, or on a Cerro, who swayed as he walked.
The jogging pace of a group of high ranked elites was fast enough that the vehicle convoy was falling further behind them on the rough terrain that used to be a main road.
Someone would have to bring equipment out and grade the road back to smooth gravel, but that could take a few days, and wouldn’t start until after the battles in the region had ended.
Until then, the vehicles would do their best, and Elites with suitable skills would level a route for their own teams.
Overhead, Hawk had already spotted their targets.
[Turn a bit northwest. They’re fighting in a valley to keep the damage contained.] He instructed.
[Got it. How is the battle going?]
[The humans are outnumbered two to one, but there is only one Overlord on our side, and four Monarchs.]
That would make it a standard strike team, Karl assumed. Five people was fairly normal for responses, and his own team was normally set up the same way.
Compared to that, the team he had come with was akin to swatting flies with a hammer.
“As soon as we’re over this ridge, we will be on them. Hawk says it’s two standard patrols on their side, versus one on ours.” Karl informed Overlord Tabitha, who was running beside him.
“Alright, I will take the left side, you take the right. We will drive forward to our team, then spread out to give them a free side to retreat to our clerics.”
[Hawk, we’re coming in. You can start clearing a path for us now.]
[About time. These Giants need to learn that fire is better than Earth Magic.] Hawk agreed.
[They’ve been throwing stones at you again, haven’t they?]
[Constantly.]