10 War Games (2/2)

”That was amazing~~g!” Varda puffed out an excited tone as she arrived at my side. ”I wasn't aware I could cause such damage with a simple earth rupture spell just by taking into account the rain's effect on the hill's slope!”

She sounded like such a big spell nerd. You could even see the enthusiasm in the glint of her wide green eyes.

”I'll need you to do it again later,” I winked, equally satisfied with her results. ”But now... Luca told me once that you can create earth golems?”

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Varda nodded giddily. ”I can shape two rock golems into existence as long as there's material to work with. They can last a full thirty minutes or until I pass out. Whichever comes first.”

The prospect of passing out because of spell fatigue seemed enticing to our dwarven spell caster.

”Materials, huh,” another idea popped into my head, and I directed Varda's gaze to the white stones encircling the hilltop. ”Will those work?”

”Yes,” Varda cracked her knuckles together. ”Shall I get started?”

I shook my head. ”I'll let you know when it's time. I'm waiting for something else to happen. Stick by me just in case...”

Varda looked quizzically at me before she shrugged. ”Alright!”

Aura's Flame Shield began to sputter and peter out. More than the fireballs, it was the rain that did the shield in.

”Apologies,” sweat poured down Aura's forehead as she leaned on her staff. ”I couldn't keep it up any longer.”

I patted her on the back reassuringly. ”Don't sweat it. You did good... But I'll need you to cast my favorite spell soon.”

Aura stood up straighter although she kept one hand on her five-foot staff for support. ”I'll be ready then.”

Our conversation over, I asked both spell casters to watch my back while I used Fool's Insight one more time to check our enemy's progress up the hill.

The soldiers on the western hillside had all crossed the halfway point, which was the signal for our defenders guarding that side of the hill to ready their melee weapons. The soldiers on the right side were reforming their formations, starting with the hobgoblins in the vanguard, while the trolls, who still hadn't surface, seemed down for the count. The hobgoblins would have restarted their climb too, if it weren't for the ambush of Luca's raiding party on their flanks.

The raiders ran out of their hiding spot—a boulder ditch between the western and southern hillsides that was far enough from the devastation caused by the earlier mudslide—and attacked the hobgoblins caught unaware by their sudden arrival.

I watched Luca's broadsword swing at a hobgoblin's head, and a moment later, saw that same head fall off the now decapitated fairy. Luca continued his decapitation of two more hobgoblins before the rest turned their weapons on him. But I wasn't overly worried about my brother's safety for he had the ultimate bodyguard by his side.

Edo's half-ogre physique needed no armor to protect it other than the steel belt and chain-mail skirt I believed he only wore as a kind of fashion statement. Aura once told me that he was very particular about his appearance as looking fittingly intimidating was part of a bodyguard's duty. His boots were also made of steel, but these served a different purpose other than protecting his feet. They were weapons Edo used to kick at the smaller hobgoblins charging him, and a push kick from such muscular legs sent all his opponents flying.

His preferred weapon was a glaive. It was a sharp single-edged shadowblade about two feet long on top of a six-foot solid steel pole. In his powerful hands, this glaive was akin to a weapon of mass destruction with each swing ripping through the hobgoblins and humans who were foolhardy enough to get in his way.

The other members of Luca's raiding party weren't as spectacular at killing things the way he and Edo were but they were no slackers. As the saying went, different strokes for different folks. In this case, all five were experienced warriors in hit-and-run tactics that made use of the distraction the two tanks caused to deal surgical strikes against any combatants who weren't prepared to get stabbed in the back.

Their entire attack lasted less than five minutes, and once they caused enough chaos in this killing field they created, they threw smoke bombs to ensure their escape back into the ditches. As it hadn't stopped raining yet, the smoke was very effective in causing even more confusion.

I wanted to watch their progress some more but a painful stinging in my eyes forced me to deactivate Fool's Insight. The pain was a sign that I was nearing my limit for using my fairy gift. It even took several blinks to refocus my vision back to normal, although a slight blur was present at the edge of my sight.

Aura, who noticed my discomfort, grabbed onto my shoulder to steady me.

”Don't overuse your gift,” she whispered in my ear as she wanted to avoid any prying ears from learning about what I could do. After all, only she and her brother, the current patriarch, new what power my fairy gift possessed. ”Let me cast a healing spell on you.”

I shook my head. ”We'll need you to use your remaining spell for something else.”

”Azuma,” she said, and it was amazing how a single name could strike such apprehension in both of us.

I nodded. ”He's coming...”

As if on cue, there was a warning cry from the watchers I left to guard over the eastern hillside, the one covered by the heavy fog. A small force of twenty soldiers—all of them human—had jumped out of the fog and were now attacking the few guards stationed there. A long-haired man in black plate armor was leading them. His damped grey cloak trailed behind him.

”It looks like you were right...” Aura's grip tightened on my shoulder. ”Azuma was preparing to ambush us while the main force distracted us.”

”Yeah...” I pinched the bridge of my nose. ”I sometimes hate it when I'm right.”

The eight guards on the eastern hillside were no match for Azuma and his elites. Half of them had already fallen in the few seconds since the enemy rushed out of the fog. They would have been wiped out to the last man too if I hadn't planned ahead for this probable scenario actually happening.

From the sky above came the yell of, ”Charge!” in that chirpy tone belonging to Qwipps Daggerby.

Qwipps and his eight pixie companions had been lying in wait, hidden behind the fog themselves, for the moment our enemy would appear just like we'd planned. Now that Azuma, who we noticed had been missing from the Magesong clan's main force since their initial charge, triggered the trap we set, Qwipps and his fellows dived into the fray with their shadowblades at the ready. The ensuing clash promised to be very bloody.

”Uh, even with that attack of opportunity, I doubt Qwipps can defeat Azuma,” Varda kindly pointed out. ”Should we go save his ass, Dean?”

”That's the plan,” I gripped the hilt of my falchion tightly. ”Time to earn some glory...”