Chapter 15: Cry 'Havoc!'
The Horde was vast.
A kilometer radius was indeed large, but numbers could only say so much. Even from the flat-topped hall in the center of Uebel, Xerath could still see the ranks of the Horde. Thousands of distant pixels moving ever closer towards him.
Come then. We are waiting. Come rain arrows and your simple magic upon us and I shall return it ten fold in naught but a scant second! I will rend the very tyranny you represent from this plane with arcane might that should so rightly have been locked away for eternity!
This power is mine and it is mine alone!
And it shall be the end of you!
Xerath was meditating, or at least it looked like it.
His 'fingertips' were touching each other and his faceless form managed to show some kind of disconnection from everything around him.
If Xerath is this powerful, then I was only shown a mere fragment of power during his ascension from his tomb, Azel thought. He is going full out on this one.
The noise returned to her ears.
"I am ready."
"Good. Seer Malzahar and Commander Jinai almost have the guard in order. Limited activity from the Horde. Could be setting up their artillery and gods know what else they have in store. Target an artillery location and wait on stand-by for their strike or when Commander Jinai is ready." Pasol had no expression, fully immersed in what was to be the greatest battle of his life. Uebel had sent reinforcements to Himos five years ago but only a few had returned from the siege. His mentor had gone and vanished just like so many others had.
"Very well. Azel!"
"Yes, my Lord?"
"Assist Colonel Pasol in communicating targets to me. As soon as I start to charge my energy, I will be unable to communicate in the physical plane. I need you to tell him any change in my target priority and for him to coordinate with the frontline."
"I-Very well, my Lord. I will do so to the best of my ability!"
"Good, I will begin now."
The structure shook as Xerath synchronized with the magical flow of the world, shaking off loose sand from the structure, falling onto the streets below. An intense pyre of crackling blue energy formed beneath him.
He could no longer hear the sounds of the small team behind him constantly receiving word from the frontline and reconnaissance elements. Only small incoherent distortions suggested their presence.
His form distended as the Chains weakened, seeping long lost energies back into him. It felt good to have such power within him, ready to be called on at any instant. His vision watched over Uebel, its defenders and the Horde that could very well annihilate all of them.
Not while I still draw strength.
He searched through the Horde, small flickers of light denoting every single human existence. There were other, stranger flickers, some hard to make out because of the wards surrounding them while others were beings of arcane might.
He spied the artillery, ballistae with what seemed to be an arcane launching mechanism. More conventional artillery such as catapults was being rolled into position and mighty trebuchets being constructed were also present. The null magic wards would dissipate some of his energy, but not enough to completely stop his onslaught.
Compiling magical energies, he charged his first round to send into the Horde.
Now we play the waiting game.
Baltzin looked out over at the city of Uebel from his mount.
He was no soldier. He preferred a desk job. He really preferred a desk job.
He did not care much about the total annihilation of Murakishur, more of his own well being. Destroying Murakishur would be nice, as long as he was not involved in any of the battles.
But he was here in the Horde. Better hope that he would not need to deal with actual combat. If the Horde were somehow defeated, then nothing would save him.
But that was impossible. Not with all of the support they had been given from the other cities. Even groups of cultists had joined the Horde, their alien ways adding to the strength of the Horde. One group known as the Terrorum Dominae had approached Lord Vragin and had asked for an outrageous number of slaves to complete a ceremony of theirs. With this, they promised a way to obliterate Uebel with a being so powerful that not even a champion of the League of Legends would be able to take it down. Vragin accepted it, the naïve fool. They had been keeping their word so far, with the ceremony under way before him. But once this being emerged, what would stop it from wiping us out instead of the enemy?
This was why he hated royalty, thinking that they always had the right answer and if you just so happened to dislike it, then the chopping block awaited. Such a simple and base threat.
There was a strange noise in the air, like a fly buzzing, but where was the damnable thing coming from?
"Seer Baltzin, why is your expression so dire?" Lord Vragin spoke from upon his elephant mounted dais, filled with luxuries that lesser men could not even dream of.
And Baltzin thought that he had impressed the Explorer with his feast.
"It is nothing Lord Vragin, I simply distrust these cultists. Not so much as to say it was a poor idea, just that they have nothing to prove their worth just yet."
"Are they not doing as I say? Their warriors are meat-shields for us at the front of the lines, while their sorcerers are right in front of us surrounded by my most loyal of guards. If they do not fulfill their task, then I shall make every single one of them an example to those who displease me. I have complete control over them."
No you do not, you arrogant lumbering oaf.
"As you say so, my Lord. Excuse my moment of doubt."
"The fireworks from our artillery should be starting soon. I pray hope those custom shells provide an entertaining display of devastation."
Custom? Please do not tell me this pig had spent vast amounts of precious gold on some shells that were flashier and had far too many advanced adjectives attached to them to appeal to his simple dull mind.
"Lord Vragin, the Cavalry divisions are ready and waiting on your orders."
"Excellent news, Major Joumu. Seer Baltzin, please proceed to the Nalepsian regiment. We will show these simple worms the meaning of war! My late Father would be proud to know that I have orchestrated this truly immense force."
Your father would be rolling in his grave laughing knowing that his brutish and simple son would be orchestrating this. Lord Tragin was a military genius and renowned tactician who was only stopped by the final efforts of the Mind-Slayer. He would look down upon you with utter disgust at this raw amount of brawn with no brain behind it. Our forces may be superior from his crusade five years ago, but Lord Tragin managed to drag Himos to its knees with no flashy toys or mad cultists summoning some behemoth.
"Yes my Lord."
Baltzin spurred his horse onwards to his Nalepsian regiment. The Nalepsian council had organized this punishment from those Champions discovering what Belhora did to some… unnecessary cults. Far away, he heard the sound of battle cries and the thundering charge of hoofs on sand. That should mean the assault has begun.
Baltzin continued on towards his regiment, when he heard the crack of tough rope and the groan of wooden gears. About fifty meters away, a group of onagers had begun launching their ordnance into Uebel.
A few moments later, a bright flash.
A deafening blast.
The ground itself heaved from an immense power forced into it.
Baltzin managed to cover his eyes, only for his horse to bray in terror.
The heat baked the right side of his body in agony, causing him to grimace from the surging pain.
Then the shockwave hit both mount and rider, knocking them to the ground with the force of a rhinoceros. The vibrations ran throughout his entire body.
Immense pain flooded Baltzin as his leg cracked from the beast's fall. He cried out, but he heard nothing other than the ringing in his ears.
What seemed like an eternity passed him.
Everything was slowed to a mere fraction of what it should be.
Intense feelings of numbness entered his body, only for pain to resurge back into him, as well as all of his other senses. Muffled, yes, but his senses were there.
"Seer Baltzin! Stay with me! Som'one get a healer! Officer down over 'ere!"
Baltzin grimaced in pain from his fractured leg.
"Thank the gods! Umiy! Help me get the Seer from under this 'ere horse!"
After much effort, the two soldiers barely managed to lift the shocked horse off from Baltzin's form. After a brief lapse in the beast's conscience, it righted itself and ran off across the desert panicking.
Baltzin remained on the ground, still trying to deal with the pain saturated in his body. Lifted by the two soldiers, he found where the blast had come from.
It had come directly from the place where the onagers had been mere seconds before.
Arcs of white lightning the size of men fizzled at the center of the blast site, with each point of the arc melting both sand and steel with the force of a blacksmith's forge. At the very center, the sand had turned to glass from the immense power forced upon it.
Was this? It was!
Whatever that being of Thunder and Lightning was, it was here, siding with Murakishur.
Sh*t.
That thing was no mere legend.
Baltzin tried to stand.
He could not.
His right side was baked by the heat blast while his left leg had been crushed under his panic stricken horse.
"Don't worry sir, we can patch you up." The apothecary said with a weak smile, knowing that Baltzin's left leg was unsalvageable. The right side of Baltzin's body would be fine though, if but a little painful for the next few months.
"I thank you apothecary, but I need to see my troops immediately."
"With respect, sir, you can't with those injuries."
"LIEUTENANT!" A booming voice cried from inside the apothecary's tent. "Orders from Command to assemble all Infantry regiments and make ready for the assault."
"YES SIR!" The apothecary returned back to Baltzin. "In your current condition you are unsuited for battle and we cannot have anyone slow down the assault. Your men will have to do it without you."
Do it without him.
This may well save him.
My brother may well be right for worshipping you, demon.
The buzzing had returned.
That could mean only one thin-
The ground rumbled once more from another immense blast of energy, sending a cloud of sand into the sky itself, imbued with crackling lightning.
IT COULD DO THAT AGAIN SO SOON?
There is no way that we will be able to hold this position.
He may be targeting the artillery, but how is he so accurate? There is no Mage known to be able to tactically remove such a small target from this range!
As long as there are bigger threats though, he won't need to target this location again. Well at least my skin is saved, for now.
"Targets Alpha and Beta removed." Xerath communicated to Azel.
"I hear you, my Lord. Commander Pasol had designated Lambda and Omega as next priority."
"It shall be done."
Xerath surveyed the damage from his gaze, focusing on how the wards were reacting to his onslaught. If he could get beyond the disruptive warding, then his ordnance strength would increase significantly. But he had not yet cracked the warding barriers to do so. Until then, his efficiency would be lacking.
This was going to take slightly longer than he had predicted.