They all were called in after a couple of hours of settling in and a small tour of the camp, for the small meeting the Pigmen warriors usually had before each battle started.
Sam immediately sensed the two powerful mana signatures before even entering the fancy tent. Lyska and Rurik — The two lords under the Pigmen king, both of Transcendent rank. Both were red Pigmen, towering over everyone present in the tent. There were other second rankers and experienced warriors, most covered in the armor colored with dark, smelly blood of the black Pigmen. Only 10,000 Pigmen remained on standby while 20,000 fought — 10,000 of which were replaced after every attack.
“So these are the fabled Kaisha we’ve heard so much about?” one of the third rankers, Rurik, asked.
Sam barely understood the language, but there was a translator sent by the king with them. Mindseer had taught many people who wanted to learn their language over the seven years she had stayed here.
“Yes, Lord Rurik,” answered the captain who had brought the 5,000 new soldiers, Riodin.
“Do they have some runic weapons?” the other Transcendent, Lyska, asked. “Without that, I fail to see what a few second rankers can do.. Even if they are Kaisha and can use many elements and different spells.”
“They have their personal weapons, my lord,” replied Riodin.
Sam was not familiar with these two new leaders of the Pigmen tribe, so their skepticism was understandable. He didn’t care much for fancy titles and stuff though. As Damian would say if he was here — they had come to fight; everything else was pure distraction.
“Let them observe and rest for the night, and in the morning, they can join the first fight,” Rurik said dismissively and started talking to Riodin about the details of the preparations back in the city and the trap-setting groups.
“We’ve had enough rest. I will be joining this next battle,” Sam said calmly.
The discussion stopped as they all heard the translated words. His friends besides Sam nodded towards him, agreeing.
“It’s not as easy as it looks. We cannot guarantee your protection. Let us assign some teams that can look over your people. We have to go back, but in the next one you can join,” Lyska said. His eyes held no amusement.
Sam stood up, looking at the guy. “We are not your guests.. And I wasn’t asking for permission — just letting you know. There’s no need for our protection,” he said in a simple tone and turned around without listening to any replies.
His friends followed behind him.
“We should probably spread out for each rotation. Better if we accompany the same people each time,” Maelor suggested.
“Two in each,” Lucian added.
“I’m joining this one,” Sam continued walking as they headed for the edge of the camp.
“I will come as well,” Alex said. Sam looked at the guy and nodded.
There was a time when all he could feel when he saw the guy’s face was anger. If nothing else, this wandering life of theirs had made Sam realize how small a thing it was to hate people. He would never forget the things Faerunia had done to him, but hating this one guy was not going to yield anything. They were not friends, but Sam could fight together with the guy as long as they were away from their home in a strange land.
“We’ll go next,” Evrin said, and Einar nodded.
“Guess that leaves just us..” Maelor said to Lucian, who just shook her head a little, showing barely any emotion.
“It might be too early, but just fighting defensively is not going to be much help.. They are already doing it for years,” Lucian said after a second of silence.
“We need to see how Bloodedge responds to our presence before making any plans,” Evrin added.
“Let’s just see for a day, then we’ll talk,” Sam replied as he stood at the edge of a narrow valley.
Soon, the sound of thousands of black Pigmen moving together could be heard from the distance. The sound rivaling that, and more orderly, came from behind Sam as the Pigmen army of 20,000 was in position and marching ahead — led by Lyska himself. Sam and Alex joined from the side, moving casually together with the marching army. The others stayed behind.
The narrow path was both a blessing and a problem for the Pigmen army. It limited the numbers of Pigmen, but when the giant Emperor rank monsters came along, the limited space for fighting could be really annoying. Normally it was the job of the rolling straw tired runic weapon-handling soldiers to shoot their lasers at such problems from far away, or it was up to the one Transcendent commander to kill the thing before it reached their side.
But sometimes there wasn’t just one of such creatures, and Pigmen warriors had to fight Emperor rank, black, evolved Pigmen with just second rankers. Needless to say, those were the times when they received the most casualties and crippling injuries.
However, this time — When the two sides crashed into one another like a wave of black Pigmen onto the strong, standing wall of red and blue Pigmen — The dark, starry sky turned even darker. Strong wind started blowing as the whole sky lit up with the monstrous sound of lightning — Making everything seem small and insignificant.
Before the enemies or the Pigmen warriors could register what the hell was happening, an earth-shaking lightning bolt descended upon them — but to everyone’s surprise, it did not hit the ground. A figure had jumped high in the air, catching the lightning onto himself, lighting up the whole night with his bright blue blindingly luminescent body.
The whole battlefield held its breath as — raising the sword in his hand high, flowing with powerful energy — Sam descended into the middle of the pitch-black Pigmen army and decimated hundreds in a single strike. The wrath of the lightning was unforgiving.
Only when there was a giant crater on the ground did the black Pigmen monsters come to their senses, and with a primal, fearless roar, they charged at the unknown glowing entity — only to get struck with bolts of lightning with each slash of Sam. In the middle of the ferocious black Pigmen army, Sam jumped through an enormous, evolved, Emperor-ranked Pigman’s chest and came out on the other side — behind him, the whole giant body convulsing with never-before-felt millions of bolts of electricity, and dropped face-first onto its own black Pigmen army.