106 Overkill (2/2)

”On my orders,” I explained.

Kallista raised an eyebrow at me but didn't say anything else.

If I'd intended a slaughter, things would have been quick and easy. Our forces were overwhelmingly better than our opponents. Not just because there were more of us now, but because many of my troops were survivors of the previous war, and they had obviously gained experience from that.

I felt a slight chill in the air, as if the wind was a little colder now after it had passed through the lake. I took a deep breath and shrugged it off.

Things would heat up soon enough, I thought. Then I raised my hand and formed a fist.

The effect was instantaneous and much better than using the signal flags, but it was really only useful when the troops were close enough to see me.

Ashley's revamped Shield squad, eighty soldiers strong and mostly comprised of humans and elves of similar height, hefted their new bronze shields, and like the Spartans of myth, proceeded to stroll up the hill in turtle formation.

Just watching them move in unison was giving me goosebumps. They were the linchpin of my new infantry force, after all.

Behind the Shield Squad were three other infantry squads, each one a fifty-man unit led by their new squad leaders.

For precision strikes and hit-and-run tactics, there was Luca's Ravagers. They were a group of veterans from the first days of the Foolhardies and boasted the highest survivability rate in the entire unit.

Luca himself, decked in his new electrum chainmail and midnight blue tabard with the Foolhardies logo splashed across its chest, was standing at their head. Strapped behind him was his new silver-rank broadsword, a gift from the patriarch for his achievements in the last war.

The second infantry unit, the Bastards, was a specialized unit that could perform a myriad of important functions like building ditches and barricades for defense. They served under the command of Edo who I promoted to lieutenant once he'd healed from his injuries and returned to active duty. It was a fitting name, not only because their leader was a bastard himself, but because many of them were the elves leftover from Theren Everleaf's old squad.

Believe it or not, Edo was wearing a steel-rank chest plate now. I'd convinced him to wear armor after reminding him he'd almost died after getting skewered in his bare shoulder.

The final infantry unit was more conventional than the other two and was solely comprised of former viseres of the Magesong clan. Their leader was none other than Azuma, who, after breaking his bond with Ardeen Spellweaver and contracting with Darah, had agreed to serve under me. Partly because Darah asked him to, but mostly because, and this is my own opinion, I think he's grown rather fond of me.

At the very least, the dude who'd traded in his black armor for a much lighter padded gambeson dyed in midnight blue colors had agreed to train me, and I was now spending half my time in the Fayne getting floored by his lessons.

Whatever had happened between him and Darah, Azuma's body seemed to have been revitalized. He still had cancer, but he didn't look like he was dying anymore. There was more meat to him these days.

”Ah, I see your plan now,” Kallista said approvingly.

She'd noticed what the thieves hiding in the tower, who in their growing fear of the marching soldiers, failed to notice. And that was the Talons who'd landed on the Tower's roof.

”Hail Mary successful, Commander,” Varda chirped.

I looked skeptically up at Qwipps' troops.

”They've got this, right?” I asked.

”I have faith,” spoke the masked elf beside me. ”We sent Pike to watch Qwipps' back just in case.”

”She has become reliable… more reliable than Qwipps, at least,” I agreed, turning to look at Aura and admiring the confident look she sent me. ”Are you ready?”

Aura raised her staff forward and saluted me playfully. ”Foolhardies new Mage Hand Squad reporting for duty, Commander.”

I sighed. ”Just make sure to remind Donar not to raze the tower to the ground.” I jerked a thumb toward Kallista. ”Wouldn't want her to charge us for repairs…”

Aura laughed her brilliant laugh that never failed to make me feel all warm and tingly inside.

”Alright, let's begin phase two.” Aura raised her staff high, its red orb glowing a fierce orange. ”Oh mighty servant of the Pillar of Flames, I beseech you, come forth and rampage across this fairy plane!”

At her command, a giant fireball came to life in the air above us. It expanded and exploded outward, spraying us all in a scorching heat reminiscent of the sun on a beach at high noon.

Then, like an egg that had hatched, the flames gave birth to a fiendish creature formed of shadow and flame.

”I know I'm just a guest, Dean, but isn't all of this bordering overkill?” Kallista asked while she gazed enthralled by the efreet hovering over Aura.

”Yup… but I wanted the unit to stretch its legs, you know,” I answered nonchalantly, as if I wasn't at all disturbed by Aura's display of power. ”Incidentally, I named this entire op, Operation Overkill.”