Chapter 764 764 Hit Them Until They Learn
This time, the enemy didn’t approach as far. They stopped two hundred metres away and began setting up some sort of magical devices that looked like catapults.
“Are they seriously going to use siege weapons against an infantry army?” Risa asked.
“Well, it is likely their strongest attack, so I suppose they will. But it appears that they haven’t realized that we can hit them from here.” Millie agreed, while Chloe polished her rifle and waited for the fight to begin.
They were bodyguards, in the middle of the group with Wolfe and the others, so they would be on defensive duty during the attack, as well as tactical reporting. The primary tactical planning would be done by the witches in town, who had better radio contact with everyone, but there was a chance that they would see more attackers coming their way from some other point on the invaders’ planet.
Prince Nathaniel surveyed the battlefield, then pointed to a spot near the fallen Emperor.
“The device to open the portals is still intact. We should recover it and use it to ensure that they are not amassing a larger army to return.”
Wolfe found the item he was referring to, and pulled it to them with a blast of Gravity Magic. It looked like a simple magical box, but there was a whole matrix of crystal inside, along with a large amount of gold, making it surprisingly heavy for its size.
“Does anyone know how these things work?” Wolfe asked as he failed to determine what it should do. There were no inscriptions on it, but it still held a lingering charge of mana from its last use.
“We all know these. They are very similar to the ones that the crusaders used. There is a circuit in there that tells them where the last portal opened to, so they can follow it back. That’s how they found us again after we closed the portal and retreated.” The Prince replied.
“So, they will be able to keep coming here, just following the previous portals from their home world? Maybe I am going to have to do something about that, like station a force at the location on their end to deal with invaders.” Wolfe sighed.
The Elf shrugged. “Since it’s a human world, it’s best if you send your own people or the Witches. The humans can’t tell the difference, so they will think that it’s just another human world, or a foreign army from their world, if he really didn’t control everything. That should be enough to keep them from going all insane zealots on you.
They’re going to want your technology, though, so you need to be careful about losing even a single battle. If they get the chance to bring even a small amount of your weaponry home, there is a chance that they can recreate it. You make it all with magic, so they should be able to do the same, eventually.”
Wolfe nodded his head. “That’s what happened to the humans in this world. I obtained their weaponry, and then we began to enchant it and turn it against them in an enhanced form. It was devastating to their military, and even more devastating to the foreign witches, who came without anything that could rival either army except their numbers and higher ranked magic users.
In the end, even having Rank Five Witches versus our Rank Three cap at the time, and a pair of Saints wasn’t enough to overcome the military advantage.”
The older Demon nodded in agreement. “The humans on the Eastern side of this continent were in quite the pathetic shape when the stabilization force arrived. Most of them needed extensive magical assistance, and if it wasn’t for the witches here trading charms to the Demons, and the magic of the Fae, there is a good chance that there would have been mass starvation and food riots by the end of this summer, with only a small crop to get them through the winter.”
The Elf pointed to the human army’s lines. “It looks like they’re set up. Should we give them a chance to retreat?”
“Do it. It will either work, or it will piss them off, but either way it’s a win for us.”
[Invading army, your Emperor is dead. His successor is dead. Cease your foolish invasion and return home, never to appear in our world again.] The Elf announced, using magic to let his voice carry far beyond the current battle, allowing the armies for dozens of kilometres along the perimeter to hear his voice.
That might not have been enough to dissuade them from attacking, but it certainly did put fear into their hearts. The reinforcements were just now realizing what happened to the first group they found dead in their world, that they had run into this army and been annihilated.
Worse, they had no idea how large the force in Forest Grove was, as the defensive spells were over sixty kilometres in diameter. If even a quarter of that was a massive city, they might have just poked an advanced society with the numbers to wipe out entire legions of their soldiers in a day. The realization was both terrifying and humbling, but the rest of their Legion should still be fighting around the perimeter, and there was a chance that this was the only force that the forest had sent out.
Unlike Wolfe, who was getting a constant stream of updates as the other forces attacked and then retreated into the forest to wait for another group to ambush, the invaders relied on magical communication, which was heavily distorted by the [Kind Intentions] spell when they tried to reach the other side of the forest.
“Are we really going to wait for them to attack again?” One of the Wrathbringers asked, eager to get back to battle.
“No, we’re waiting for them to dig out every bit of equipment they have, so nothing is left hidden in a spatial storage device when they flee. As soon as the construction stops, I will give the order to attack.”