Chapter 761 761 Retreat and Prepare
The assault party beat a hasty retreat back through the portal and let it close behind them, but the reprieve was short-lived. Within seconds, someone was trying to open a new one, which the Seraphim shut down with a counterspell of Upper Planes magic that Wolfe had never seen before.
Wolfe brought [Kind Intentions] back up, hoping to deflect any further attempts, but the effect was not quite what he had been expecting. Instead of giving up, the portals seemed to search around until they found the edge of the effect, and then open at dozens of points around the Fae Forest at the same time.
“It looks like we’re under siege.” Asmodain noted, sensitive enough to mana flows to feel the portals opening in the distance.
Forest Grove definitely did not have enough of an army to deal with an invading force on that level, but it seemed that they were going to have to find a way because Wolfe didn’t feel any other portals opening.
“Can I get all the Saints and Overlords to me, and then everyone under that Rank to focus on keeping [Kind Intentions] and the other barriers active? With a bit of time to prepare, we can blitz their defences, and do so much damage that they can’t hold out against it.
It’s the way that I have been overcoming enemies all along, and it’s very effective, we just don’t have enough stored firepower to deal with this threat yet.” Wolfe requested.
The Demons gave him enthusiastic smiles because this meant that they were going to learn the way to make enchanted bullets, but the Fae were a bit more reluctant, concerned that they might be making things worse if they started with an all out offensive.
“I suggest that we try to talk to them first.” One of the Elves announced, in a tone that said it was not just a suggestion.
“Of course. We will build up our firepower first, then we will go talk to their leadership. I give it an hour before they send a request to talk, assuming that they haven’t broken our defences by then. Once they do, we will know whom to talk to, and we will send our troops to every third portal location.
If talks break down, we hit them hard and then retreat into the forest and pick another set of sites.”
That pacified the Fae for a little while. Once they met with these invading humans, he would work his Elven charm to see if they could be reasoned with. He had heard that humans would sometimes see sense, and they wouldn’t want to make enemies with both Faerie and the Demon Realm by attacking this town. That would be insane, and even a religious zealot had some limits.
These were just crusaders who thought that their King was invincible, until a few minutes ago when he was killed in combat.
That would be the biggest hurdle, getting past their grief and anguish to talk to them in the first place. They were sure to be irate that their Emperor was dead, even if he was the one who launched an attack. Invading armies were like that, they always seemed to think that their cause was the one on the right side of history because they had been on a winning streak.
Unlike most species, the Elves had actually interacted with what they deemed their god, the World Spirit of Faerie, and they could say with absolute certainty that there was no divine favour on either side of any conflict, the petty squabbles between lesser beings were nothing to them.
Wolfe led the way to the production lines, while Cassie and Ella gathered the lower ranked Fae and Demons in a concerted effort to bolster the town’s defences. They didn’t know when the attack would start, or how brutal the siege would be, but getting as much of a head start as possible was definitely the best idea.
“Welcome, everyone, to the ammunition production room. As you know, this is generally an off limits area, but today is an exception, as we need a special batch of rounds to deal with the incoming threat. Unlike the standard Demonic practice, we will not be affording the invading humans the courtesy of holding back on the power of our attacks, as they have already sent Saint level power against us, and appear likely to again in the near future.
So, we are going to make two types of ammunition right now. Standard rifle rounds with Rank Seven Cluster Grenade spells on them, and heavy machine gun ammunition with Penetration, Wind Blade and Explosion spells imbued.
The advantage of doing it this way is that the rate of fire is much higher than the standard casting speed. So, even if our troops are evenly matched at the top ranks, we can still overpower their defences.
If you have methods to increase your mana transfer, I would request that you use them now, and I will be increasing the mana density in this area to maximize everyone’s efficiency.” Wolfe explained.
One of the Fae got a sneaky smile on her face and raised her hand to ask a question.
“About that spell. Can it be reversed? Because I would really like to drop an Antimagic array into the middle of the attacking army and starve their mages of mana. I don’t know how much they have stored, but I bet that it’s not enough to take a full volley from those rifles.” She informed them with a smirk.
“I can’t make the mana level zero, that isn’t how the spell works, but I can make it fifty times less than it is now. I will give each group one of a steel plate if you like, and then the Wrath Demons can throw it into the enemy ranks like a Frisbee.” Wolfe offered.
The Wrath Demons smiled. Other than their armour, they didn’t actually use much mana in combat unless they were fighting each other. Their pure physical strength and an activated magical weapon would tear through the ranks of a human army like a natural disaster.