321 321 Forgotten Battle
Wolfe pulled alongside and called out to the transport with the Witches.
“I am going to run into the camp for a minute and see what there is to recover, and then I will continue to escort you along the way. Just hold here, and I will be right back.”
The driver gave him a sloppy salute and pulled the vehicle to the side of the road, waiting for him to return. Sitting anywhere too long out here tended to attract bandits or monsters, so Wolfe rushed in to see what had been left behind in the camp.
As he pulled up into the camp, the smell of rot hit his nose right away, letting him know that whoever died in this camp hadn’t been given even the basic decency of a funeral pyre.
There were bodies scattered everywhere, bloated by the spring sun, and for some reason, even the scavengers hadn’t wanted to touch them.
From the uniforms, they were a mix of Morgana Coven and Myrrh Coven troops, so they would have fallen during the later stages of that fateful morning when there had been time for reinforcements. The gas here had been relatively light, and Wolfe could barely detect any lingering effects on the bodies or in the ground. Instead, he found a large amount of null stone ammunition.
ραndαsΝοvεl.cοm
One hundred and forty-two. Nearly half of the unit’s full strength wasn’t here, and that was with the mix of reinforcements. It didn’t bode well for the missing witches, who might have been among the first captured, but at least there was a good chance that they were still alive.
The human nations needed the magic. At least they needed it for now until they could sort out their trade issues. So, if the witches were taken, they wouldn’t have done anything to kill them off so early in the battle when they still thought that they were going to win and take the Sylvan Coven entirely.
Once he had everything he needed for the villagers loaded into his backpack, Wolfe rejoined the Witches at the road.
“How bad is the corruption?” The driver called out the window while motioning for him to stay back.
“I think they only fired one gas round at that camp, maximum. There is a huge amount of null stone ammunition there, or at least there was.” Wolfe explained.
“Was?” The driver asked.
“Was.” Wolfe agreed, then used [Unholy Fire] to light up the funeral pyre, which immediately turned into a huge magical vortex as the null stone began to burn.
Peach stuck her head out the back door and looked at the scene in awe.
“How did you manage to do that? Destroying Null Stone has been an ongoing concern of the Covens since the war started.” She asked.
“It reacts well to Unholy Fire. Perhaps all Fire. Just use enough power to get it to light up, and it will begin pulling mana into the flames and keeping them burning as it is destroyed.
If it is hot enough, it will melt its way down into the ground, so be careful where you light it. There are no underground villages this close to the border, but if you’re going to do it in the Coven, make sure that you don’t hit a water line or something.”
“How long will it burn for?” She asked curiously.
“That amount should burn for a couple of weeks, from what I have seen. But if you keep dumping more fuel in, it will last longer. Just toss it at the vortex, and it will suck in anything that is light enough to be moved.
Also, if you get a chance, make a note of the location and make sure that the notices for the unit deployed there were sent out. I thought that the lines were supposed to have been cleaned by non-magic users already, but nobody had touched that one at all.”
The Headmistress nodded gravely and made a note from the vehicle’s GPS to mark the location. If they hadn’t been found and taken care of, they might still be listed as missing in action.
Unfortunately, the Covens didn’t use dog tags, so there was no way to know for sure who was there and who was missing, but at least they could start adding the numbers to their lists of confirmed dead.
“Alright, let’s get going. I will follow you to the Academy and make sure you get there safely.” Wolfe informed the Headmistress, who gave him a knowing smile.
“Care to stay the night? I suspect that you don’t want to go straight back after we get there late in the evening. You could spend a day meeting the new students.” Her sentence trailed off at the end, but it was clear what she wanted.
Peach had seen Wolfe heal and awaken a lot of witches this week, and she had a whole building full of them who could use the help.
“I suppose that we could work something out. Just remember that although Reiko might not be part of my Pentacle anymore, I’m still not going to do anything that would subvert her role as leader of the Coven. I have a plan for her.” Wolfe reminded her.
“That won’t be a problem. It’s the older generation that you have to watch for.” Peach agreed, then closed the door and got the driver moving before Wolfe could ask more questions about her plans.
The relatively smooth dirt road, coupled with the magic to smooth their ride, had the APC moving at well over a hundred kilometres per hour down the dirt path, and Wolfe’s poor motorcycle was struggling to keep up.
It was made for infiltration in the wilderness, not high-speed vehicle chases, and it was hitting its maximum speed now, requiring Wolfe to top off the battery every hour. The speed really sucked it dry, but the light electric vehicles would go all day at a moderate pace.
Maybe he needed to have one of these sent to Janet as well, so she could modify it for high speeds and some more added enchantments.