163 163 Coordination
As they talked, a small group of mutants approached, ready to pick up whatever gear Wolfe had prepared for today’s mission.
“You have looted plenty of guns, so I enchanted ammunition. The crate is just inside the door. I’ll grab it for you when we’re done talking.
There’s enough there for you to capture both one of the escort convoys and the main convoy at the same time with very minimal casualties. It’s set to activate [Fireball] on impact, the same as what I use, which is why I said to be extra protective of it.
The mundane army has enough advantages over us without having their infantry using artillery firepower. I will have two witches with me today, and the whole group inside the den is friendly. I just didn’t have time to mention that you were coming by yesterday.
They shouldn’t panic next time, but if the scouts are concerned, they can wait until I’m back to come by again unless it’s an emergency, then look for Priya. She’s getting good with hand signals, so even though you can’t talk to each other, you can work something out or pass a note.”
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My men will have bikes, so you can take the closest unit with your witches today. There is another unit coming tomorrow as well, and it looks like they’re hunting for us, not moving supplies, so we will have to keep working together.” The Fox Demon sighed.
They were likely coming for Wolfe, going by what the rescued witches had told him. They were blaming their whole supply line mess on him at the moment, and it was sure to bring more units into the Wastes.
The more humans that were wandering around out here, where even a family of squirrels was a deadly threat, the fewer that were bothering the witches. It was a nice and even somewhat patriotic sentiment, but Wolfe really would prefer that they just go away and let him spend the winter cuddled up with his witches.
In this environment, Wolfe had a complete natural advantage. Nothing attacked him, everything hated the humans, and he could move his base of operations and build a new one at a moment’s notice anywhere in this entire inhospitable mountain range.
The humans had to pass through this region to get from their own territory to Sylvan City, so they had no choice but to engage on his terms unless they diverted their Air Force to deal with him and his allies.
“Alright. We will deal with one of the groups that is coming tomorrow on the way back if you give us a guide. With that new firepower, you can send out lone scouts to harass them and inflict heavy losses, then run away.
It will break them when they realize that they have no way of tracking the origin of the attacks more closely than a few dozen kilometres of foothills.
Even if they start flying overhead, I found a few cases of surface-to-air missiles in the loot you brought over. Once I enchant them for a faster flight speed, they will definitely make the enemy fly the long way around.” Wolfe laughed.
“That is genius. Even though we need supplies every year during their invasions, it would be great if they would just go away early this year. There have been so many humans in the passes that the villages are really struggling. Some of the ones close to human territory have even been found and cleared out.” One of the Fox Demon’s helpers confessed.
“There’s not much we can do about the lost villages until the mundanes give up on attacking the witches, but we can eliminate as many units as possible and force them to move their goods by air or water.”
The Fox Demon giggled when Wolfe mentioned moving goods by water and shook her head.
“Water isn’t an option. The oceans are cursed, and every night at sunset, random areas will sink any boat that it’s on the surface. You can’t even fly too close to the water at that moment, or you’ll get pulled under by a gravity wave.
More than a few of us have gotten soaked that way while passing messages to coastal villages. But metal boats can’t take the force, and they break. Flying beasts will use the phenomenon to hunt for fish on their way back to the surface.” She explained.
That was more valuable information which Wolfe didn’t previously know. He would have to be careful when choosing spots to go swimming after the summer arrived. Not that it would matter if they stayed this far inland. Nobody said anything about the phenomenon affecting lakes.
He was under no illusions that it would be easy to get rid of the army, and he didn’t really have anywhere else to go, so building a more permanent home here in the mountains didn’t sound too bad to Wolfe.
Maybe not underground beneath a hill, but he was sure he could find a good spot with a bit more searching or make this one more luxurious.
Wolfe stepped back inside and grabbed the case of magazines for the army’s automatic rifles, and each of the mutants nearby quickly grabbed one and slotted it into their rifles.
“The whole case is for you.” He informed them, but they waved it off.
“We will come every day to get more if we need to, but it’s too dangerous for us to hold onto that. The monsters will sense the magic, and they’re not afraid of us.
Keep them down deep, and we will get some for the patrols when we need them. We took twenty this time, and I don’t think we will use them all up today.” A small woman who looked like an upright badger in a dress replied.
“You only used two for the past attacks.” The Fox demon reminded him.
“I do it the other way. I inscribed the rifle and then enchanted the bullets as they were fired. But you don’t have the mana for that.” He explained.
“That’s way cooler. You can just use their stuff right away. This is good too. The best shooters can use them, and we can hide them among the regular gear if there is trouble. The army won’t take back anything we have touched.
It’s silly, but they think we are contagious. Radio Activity is their code word for stuff we have touched.” The badger girl told him.
There were Geiger counters among the gear Wolfe had stolen. Perhaps he should turn one on to check the area, just in case.
“Alright, good luck on your raids. You take the main and far groups, and we will take the close ones. Wait until we start, so they can signal back that I’m the one attacking. It will panic your targets and make them easier to destroy.” Wolfe informed them.
“Happy hunting.”