188 188 Stay or Go
Once the array was formed with all the mana that Wolfe could stuff into it, he placed it fifty meters above the blocked area of the village and directed the miniature fireballs of [Cluster Grenades] to rain down on anyone hiding there.
Some of them vanished outright, but most only faded a little before they crashed into the buildings and covered the area in long-burning Unholy Fire.
“Defend the basement. They’re trying to free the prisoners.” Someone ordered, and soldiers started moving to defend a single building.
“The bunkers are standard features for forward positions. They must have built over top of it the same way we did.” Priya informed the group as they moved forward, shooting at the converging soldiers.
“Drop your weapons and come out. I will destroy the building in ten seconds.” Wife ordered, yelling to be heard over the last few attacks.
A few seconds later, a male voice called back. “We surrender. On the condition that you spare our lives, we are coming out.”
Wolfe wasn’t sure that the witches on the other side of the camp had heard the surrender, so he placed a barrier over the building and the surrounding areas.
The soldiers came out with their hands above their heads and dropped their null stone necklaces on the ground outside the door.
Once the flow stopped, Wolfe nodded to Priya, who sent a four-witch team inside to extract the prisoners that they suspected were hidden in the bunkers.
The leader of the surrendered soldiers looked Wolfe up and down. “If you can overcome that much null stone with a single spell, there is no way that any of these witches could force you into servitude. Why are you still working with them?”
Wolfe smiled at him. “We have an arrangement. You made a mess of my lawn, and they agreed to help me make your army go away. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to have tanks rolling by all winter?”
The officer sighed. “I should have known it was something like that. Witches have no shame. They will work with anyone.”
“Don’t be grouchy just because they turned you down. The last group I talked to told me a lot of interesting things about what you plan to do with all the witches your army has been capturing.” Wolfe retorted.
“It’s not like we have a choice. The eastern coastal nations have been working together to make sure no trade gets through to us from the North, and we don’t have the resources left to survive without using magic.
Once we solve the problem with the supply chain, the government will likely kick them out of the country again anyhow. They won’t be prisoners forever.”
Wolfe just shrugged. “That’s a problem for politicians. The villages of the Frozen Wastes are getting sick of everyone trampling on them, sending hordes of undead through their hunting grounds and tearing up their fields.
So today, we decided that you’re not coming back through on your way home. We’ve stopped all eight convoys that were headed into our territories.”
The soldiers all looked confused at that. “Eight? There are only six units left to retreat. The third army never arrived, and someone has been giving the mutants enchanted weapons.”
There were only six targets marked on their map this morning, so with this confirmation of the numbers, it meant that they likely got them all as long as nobody failed. It was a big gamble, but it might be enough to stop the invasion for the winter.
The routes to the southern end of the waste turned to mud in the spring, while the mountainous regions in the north often stayed frozen all year round but were nearly impassible at the best of times.
The third army, the one that never arrived to reinforce the lines thanks to Wolfe and his team ambushing them, had tried to take the northern route through the hills, and even with all the monsters chased away in advance, they barely made it to the point where Wolfe and his team intercepted them.
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It also didn’t take long before the witch army was at the barrier, waiting expectantly for someone to let them in.
Priya gestured for Wolfe to drop the barrier and went to meet her counterparts on the other side with a professional smile on her face and her rifle slung over her shoulder.
“Greetings, ladies. We have captured the last of the mundane army forces for you, and they’re ready to be transported back to the Coven’s holding areas.” She welcomed them.
“Cut the crap, cousin. You have a new array. Where did you get it from? Why haven’t you shared it with the rest of us yet?” A familiar voice answered.
“I can think of one or two ways you might get your hands on the array,” Wolfe called over to Prius’s cousin and her unit, who they had last seen before the front-line camps fell.
“Oh, the demon. I should have known that you would be the last one standing when the camps fell. How about you give me the diagram for that array, so I can test it out? I’ll trade you my blessing to have Priya’s hand in marriage.” The witch joked.
“Tempting. But which array did you need? I’ve gotten pretty good at them since we moved to our new home.” Wolfe replied before walking over to join them.
“The one that drops fireballs in an entire camp at once. That’s just amazing. And you kept it active for so long.” She demanded.
“Active so long? I only used the array at the end. The rest of our offensive was done with ammunition that I inscribed in advance with [Fireball] spells. It’s way more fun as a tactic, and everyone can play.” Wolfe informed her with a smile.
That was when the witch finally stopped to take a rough count of Wolfe’s team and realized that there were under fifty of them here, not the hundreds she had expected.
“I think we need to talk about this unfair advantage you’ve gained. And who are those people hiding in the back? I don’t sense any aura from them, but they don’t feel mundane for some reason.”
“They’re locals from the Frozen Wastes. You don’t need to worry about them. They’re on my side. With the curse on them, they can’t talk to witches anyhow. They only hear your voices as screeching and wailing, while witches hear them making animal noises.” Wolfe explained.
“So that’s what it is. We’ve been getting reports of heavily armed nomads attacking the mundane armies all along the line today and then retreating when the Covens tried to interact with them. We thought they were renegade witches stepping up to help, but it wasn’t, was it?”
“I’m afraid not. I haven’t seen a renegade witch trying to help all winter unless you count the ones that work as healers in the villages or refugees from the Coven Territories whose homes were destroyed.” Wolfe shrugged.
“You haven’t seen any? Then where did they all go?” The officer asked while Wolfe and Priya shared a confused look.
They had assumed the renegades were still in coven territory somewhere, causing trouble.