Touch of Fate

Chapter 198: Things Take a Turn

"That's another win for me." Sera commented. Her training with the bow had given her excellent aim and fine motor skills. Despite Tal's naturally high Agility, the Oracle ended up winning most of their competitions.

"Congratulations." Tal replied with as much warmth as she could muster. The game had turned out to be a decent distraction. Something to take both of their minds off the current situation, and the rapidly declining morale that started suffusing the HQ.

"Send a message to Filia in section three. Tell them they need to hold out until we redirect one of the militia units to reinforce them." Kiera, the 1st Division commander spoke calmly despite what could be seen as an approaching calamity.

A group of Tenundian soldiers had managed to gain a foothold on one section of the city wall, and a veritable flood of them were slowly pushing the defenders back. Pretty soon they would be threatening one of the city's gates, which could spell disaster if it fell.

One might be inclined to blame this kind of failure on a lack of solid leadership, however, the truth was more bizarre. A phenomenally luck shot from a cannon on the opposite end of the Tenundian lines had somehow managed to skip along the battlements, killing and wounding nearly an entire company's worth of defenders.

If it wasn't for a particularly talented student, who practiced the Steel Wall style of shield fighting, the casualties would have been worse. He'd been able to defend the bulk of the soldiers on his section of the wall by deflecting the cannonball at the last second. Although he was now in a critical state due to his injuries, his efforts had spared many other lives.

Unfortunately, the resulting opening was quickly exploited by the assaulting force, and three ladders had been placed before the defenders had a chance to prevent them. Now a brutal melee was being fought along the top of the wall, one which could very well decide the fate of the city.

[Is it really alright for us to be sitting here like this?] Tal thought to herself. For whatever reason, Kiera was not directly sending her reserves to fill the gap. In fact, she seemed to be doing little besides reinforcing the gate with an extra company of infantry drawn from the local militia. It was almost like she was waiting for something.

Despite trusting that the commander knew what she was doing, Tal felt conflicted. Defending the headquarters was important, but a part of her thought she could have done more good if she were in the thick of the fighting, especially with Mike's gift, the mana filled bracer.

It was hard to watch the ongoing battle without taking part in it. Judging from Sera's forced cheerfulness, she could tell that the Oracle was feeling something similar.

"Ma'am! They're starting! Just like you anticipated. We're getting reports from all over town of teleported infiltrators." One of the adjutants called from the stairs. The commander reacted with gusto to the words.

"Excellent! They're moving just as planned. Give the command to the 7th, 12th, and 16th. They are to execute the Plan A. Bring the cavalry in and conduct a sweep to the north and then northeast along the wall. I want every gate under direct attack to be the focus, but make sure every exit is covered." She immediately started issuing commands, coming alive in a manner that would have been strange to imagine mere minutes ago.

Aides and lieutenants scrambled to issue the sudden flurry of orders while Kiera took a moment to survey the battlefield with a sudden look of concern. "Wait. Give me those reports." She spoke, sounding almost angry.

After examining a few documents, she hissed a curse under her breath, before turning to the last few unoccupied aides. "Send a message to Operations. Tell them that I recommend we activate one quarter of the Royal Guard for defense of our VIPs. The Tenundians aren't targeting our military sites."

Sera walked up and stood beside Tal, before speaking in a quiet voice that only the two of them could here. "That's because they are aiming for us."

Tal glanced over at the girl, seeing a look of determination on her face. The elf gave her friend a playful nudge with one elbow. "Make regret."

Indeed, she was going to make sure that any enemy coming their way truly regretted their actions.

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[This is goingpoorly.] Gareth thought as he watched the ongoing struggle between the Tier 3 mercenaries and the Dragonknight. Their slug fest had destroyed much of this section of the battlefield, and they still hadn't inflicted a single injury on the masked mage. If things continued as they were, it wouldn't be long before that dragon finished taking care of the rest of the siege engines.

[Ah...I know this was all part of the plan, but I was hoping to finish things here.] He thought while trying to find a good vantage point to watch the current confrontation between the Dragonknight and the muscular woman.

[What was her name again? Lori?]

She had broken herself out of a pocket of cooling lava, looking no worse for the wear despite sitting in a virtual oven for several minutes. Immediately afterwards, she threw herself at the Dragonknight in a berserk rush, swinging her massive metal club in a way that crushed the ground when it hit, and created visible shockwaves of air.

Despite that intense and furious stream of attacks, her opponent had been casually dodging. Could he be possibly waiting for her to tire?

[Is he not worried about being swarmed by reinforcements? Could he already know what we are planning?]

"I'm not getting paid enough for this." Gareth grumbled to himself, as he moved positions a third time, narrowly avoiding a shockwave created by the large woman's most recent attack. It seemed like she was doing a good enough job of occupying the enemy. Now if he could just find a good opening

A flash of purple light interrupted his thoughts, and after seeing the signal flare arising from the main encampment, he started making plans for a withdrawal.

[Let's see. Purple meant a partial success, right? I need to fall back to the camp and take part in the defense against any rescue attempts. Hopefully, the remaining mercenaries can finish their mission.] He thought while slinking away. The veteran mage hunter was surprised to find himself feeling relief at the action. The idea that he no longer had to fight that monster made him feel like he'd gotten a stay of execution.

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Mike dodged yet another overhead swing of the massive club, noticing an increasing raggedness in Lorelia's breathing. It looks like she was finally starting to run out of steam.

"Hold.still.damn..you." She grunted between panting breaths.

"I don't think that is something you are supposed to be asking your enemy to do." Mike replied cheerfully. "And I would much rather not get hit by that hunk of metal."

"Grahhh!" The woman roared.

He had been waiting for her to tire herself out, a strategy he'd picked up from sparring with Brenden when he was using his rage. While berserkers could do quite a bit of damage, their attacks become simple and straightforward, easy to dodge. He just needed to wait until they wore themselves out before delivering a finishing blow.

While Mike certainly could have ended this quickly, he was more inclined to ride out this little confrontation until the end. This was giving him a chance to top off his mana reserves while practicing his evasion skills. He suspected he was following along with the enemy's plan in some manner, but he couldn't see what they stood to gain.

[I'm surprised they were willing to sacrifice so much war potential just to lure me out. The siege engines alone are a major blow. Perhaps they think they no longer need them?]

Mike was having a hard time figuring out what it was the enemy was aiming for. They clearly planned on distracting him in this manner, but it's not like he was the only powerful fighter on the side of the city, although, Red arguably made him the most maneuverable. Surely, they must know that even drawing him out would not be enough to weaken the Almiran defenses to the point where they could be taken.

[Abducting one of my party members would make sense, if they were trying to bait me into a potentially self-destructive action. That's assuming that they are even aware of my actual identity, which considering their lack of knowledge regarding the current Marshal, seems somewhat unlikely. Could they be planning something else that my presence interferes with?]

"Stop ignoring me, you infuriating bastard!" The gorilla woman roared as she launched into another series of attacks. Mike noticed that they had gotten faster and more powerful, almost as if she were drawing strength from her continued anger.

[Seems a bit like that comic book character. If her skin was green, it would be a close match.] Mike thought absentmindedly while casually dodging yet another blow. [However, it appears that my plan of waiting for her to get tired is taking too long. Seriously, how much stamina do you have?]

Anyone watching the exchange would likely find such a question unfair, since he had yet to even break a sweat.

[I guess I'll wrap this up.]

He fired a burst of Light Magic directly into his opponents face, briefly blocking her sight. While Lorelia was still able to continue her attacks, albeit in more disorganized manner, the resulting blindness left her vulnerable.

Channeling mana into his arm, he stepped inside the woman's guard and delivered a powerful thrust with the Fang of the Primal right at the center of her breastplate. The screech of torn metal filled the air as the female warrior was sent flying nearly a dozen meters before slamming back into the ground with a terrific impact.

"Hm, looks like I didn't hit hard enough." Mike muttered as he watched Lorelia try to struggle back to her feet. Her armor was apparently made of some sturdy materials, as it had absorbed the majority of his blow without shattering. However, it was now so dented and torn that the woman could barely move her torso.

He should probably go over and finish her off. That would be the most reasonable option when in the thick of combat, but for some reason he hadn't really been feeling it. Even though they were mercenaries, fighting for money, he really didn't feel the need to kill them.

Glancing over at the still form of the Pact Mage, who had managed to crawl a fair distance before passing out, Mike decided that he'd had enough of this. He started walking in the direction of the city when he caught sight of a purple colored flare rising over the Tenundian encampment.

The few surviving members of the troops sent to oppose him started retreating in earnest, no longer even pretending to face him.

[Some kind of withdrawal signal?] Mike thought, finding the idea a little strange. Wanting to satisfy his curiosity, he wandered over to the earthen barricade that the shaman was hiding behind.

With a powerful kick, he shattered the wall revealing the trembling form of the adventurer, who promptly emitted a high-pitched squeak of surprise.

"Ah! I'm notI don't" Panic was leaking into her features, as she saw her own impending demise reflected in his mask.

"That's enough of that." Mike cut her off. "I just need you to answer a few of my questions."