One of the main things, Nathaniel had really hated about his time in hell was the lack of mounts. The grey mountains was not a terrain were horses or ant hooves animal would be able to traverse, and all for a number of reasons. But the main reason would be because they would all be eaten, the grey mountains was all rock, steam and acid. There was hardly any food around, so animals like that had long become extinct because of how hunted they were.
As for the blood Oak forest, they had their own special brand of transportation, apparently each city had a teleportation array that could transport them to and fro. However the extreme rarity of magic users in hell made replicating ant sort of teleportation array nothing more than just a pipe dream.
The arrays that were currently being used had existed for hundreds if not millions of years before any of the cities. In fact the cities were built around them, which spoke of a time when hell was actually prosperous and magic was mainstream. However now this place was just a barren waste land with little to no shred of goodness left in anybody.
But Nathaniel had learnt to make the best of everything, he never got tired, which meant walking for a long time was not a problem for him, though he had to keep pace with his troops, if not he would have walked a considerable distance leaving them behind.
Nathaniel had however took the time to appreciate the beauty of what Brutus had told him was called the dark lands. Contrary to its name, it was not all that dark, it was lit with colors, and fauna which could not be found on the surface.
And in the two weeks he had been marching towards the fortress, he had seen more wildlife than he could ever have seen if he spent a hundred years in the grey mountains. It was a while new world down here, and Nathaniel was very surprised that there could be something so different and beautiful in hell.
Nathaniel was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of rapidly approaching hove beats. The ground vibrated in such a way that Nathaniel felt as if an army of a million men were approaching him. His soldiers started to panicked amongst themselves at the sudden sounds, but a sharp bark of orders from Vane set them all straight. It was quite pathetic really, and Nathaniel had half a mind to have them executed for such display of a complete lack of control and discipline. But it was not really their fault, this was not the best of his troops, only the better looking. And in a place as dangerous as the dark lands, with every sight, smell and taste completely foreign and dangerous, they would react in extreme ways to anything out of the ordinary.
Nathaniel looked straight ahead and saw a squad of what he immediately realized where dark elves. And they were all riding on the back of raptors, or a raptor like animal. Their skin was a shade of purple only seen when somebody has a bruised face, then they had snake like patterns on their skin, and a bone blade extending from the back of their elbows and hind feet. The Dark elves had skin as black as night in fact they were what you would really consider black. Nathaniel wondered, if the racists who were able to get into Zion had a chance to meet this dark elves, how would they react. It would be quite an interesting sight though.
The dark elves had purple eyes, and tipped ears that grew up over the heads. Their hair was a blinding silver that just seemed to glow in the dim lights of the dark lands. They were really made for this place.
"Halt! And advance no further Intruders. If you know what's good for. You, turn back and leave the dark lands. And make sure you don't come back."
As far as negotiations went, this was not off to a good starts, but it was just the start so it was much to early to jump into conclusions. Though from this exchange, Nathaniel had been able to pick a few things out about the dark elves. They were arrogant, though not too much, they were rude, but hey were not the shoot first ask questions later type, but they also do not seem to be the listening type either. Overall it just meant that they were not very trusting of anybody then did not know.
"My fellow demons, the name of this humble servant is Brutus of house Mephistopheles. I was formerly envoy to the dark elves from red tree city. But now I am pathfinder to my lord and liege Nathaniel demon bane of the grey mountains. We have come far to seek an audience with the queen mother of the dark elves. Please we hope you can let us pass in accordance to the trust I and the empire share."
Nathaniel was getting more and more impressed with Brutus, the guy really knew how to talk, and how to play to the egos of a his targets. It let Nathaniel understand why such a person would have a falling out with his father. It was more than just being married to a woman, in hell a man that talks a lot, and talks well without proper strength is seen as a lesser male. Brutus was strong, but not enough to back the power of his mouth. However it seemed that today was not his lucky day.
"I do not care who you are, or what relationship you have, the queen is in no position to receive any visitors, so leave."
They did not seem be backing down, which meant there was now way they would let them through. However, Nathaniel felt something was wrong, and a quick signal to Vane was enough for him to set the troops in an alert state. This guys were not the best, but they made up for it in numbers as they vastly outnumbered their opponent.
There were only a dozen dark elves here, which shouldn't be a problem for Nathaniel, except their raptors were a completely unknown factor, and he did not know how he would deal with them, yet. Nathaniel prepared himself for a fight, because quite honestly, nobody talked to him like that and got away with it. And from the looks of things, this guys had either not heard of his reputation, or they have and they did not just give a damn. Whichever one of the two it was, as far as Nathaniel was concerned, they had committed a sin.
Brutus on the other hand was still trying to solve this in a diplomatic matter. It made Nathaniel annoyed that someone with such wit and intelligence would be to slow to realize when a venture would not be successful, or when something did not seem right. This guys had no intention of letting them pass, Even if they were kings of hell itself.
"Please I'm sure our sudden appearance and demand, might seem a little rude. But I assure you, we come with good intentions, and would only like to gain an audience with the queen."
"Are you deaf or something, in fact forget it. Kill them all."
Brutus was completely surprised by the sudden turn of events, but so was Nathaniel. It was not that he did not expect that they would attack, though he thought he would be the one taking the initiative since they only had twelve dark elves on their side if we should exclude their raptors. And that was when Nathaniel realized that the while confrontation was just a front to stall for time, while Brutus was running his mouth, the dark elves had them surrounded.
They were currently attacking the rear of his advance guard, and from the sounds of the battle, his men were loosing badly. Nathaniel was in awe of their skills and very worried too. They had completely bypassed his heightened senses, to launch a sneak attack. It was true what Brutus said about them though, they were natural born assassins.
The were organized in their attacks, but the twelve in front of them had actually pulled back to avoid being set upon by Nathaniel and his soldiers. But thus guys were not his best, and his opponents were more familiar with battle and the terrain. Nathaniel knew he needed to think fast, so he turned to Vane and shouted at him.
"Vane!, get those soldiers into the net formation, and make sure every unit gives a gap of five meters between each other."
Vane gave a nod as he began to relay the orders to what was left of the soldiers. Even though this guys were not the best, they had been in enough drills that the formations Vane and Nathaniel had come up with in case of war and large scale battles, had been firmly ingrained in their mind and body. They had repeated it a thousand times, until it became second nature to them. And the net formation was one of those.
The formation was used when the attackers are a tightly clustered unit, or could not be seen. It was a double edged sword, as it also needed to sacrifice some soldiers to work. Every soldier would split into a unit of either 20 to 50 soldiers, and then they would space and separate themselves in a horizontal and vertical line. If you look at if from the sky, it would like they were a net, or a chess board. After they got into formation, the enemies would slip into the cracks, and when there's enough of them, the formation would change, trapping the enemies inside, while the soldiers at the periphery defended to prevent other enemies from rescuing their friends.
When the formation changes, it becomes a two step square, with the inner one facing the trapped enemies, while the outs square would have their backs to the inner square, defending and fighting from the outside.
This formation could also be used in a circular form.
But Nathaniel had a different plan this time around. The formation would be very effective in large scale battle ambush. But in the case, he just needed them to trap little fishes in a pool with a shark.
As his soldiers gathered to make the formation, the were still being killed by the dark elves and their raptors. And with the rate at which this was happening, they would all be killed before that formation is formed. Nathaniel pulled a stone sword that was hanging from his back.
He really did not like using bulky weapons like this, but it was the only way he could bring his strength to its highest potential. It took fourteen people seven months to carve this sword from a meteorite that had become a part of the grey mountains over the millennia Nathaniel guessed it had fallen there. Apart from being very tough, this sword had this ability to absorb the blood of every vanquished enemy. Sometimes it also absorbed bones, and anything rare from ores to plants to even fire. But so far it has not shown any other skill other than being heavy.
Nathaniel shot forward so fast that he left a cloud of dust in his wake, the dark elves that were attacking from behind numbered almost three hundred, and in just a few short moments they had taken out a hundred plus of his soldiers. Their capabilities were very terrifying, as Nathaniel knew without a doubt, they were the most effective group of people he had fought since he came to hell.
Nathaniel swung his massive stone sword, and the wind from the swing had already blown some if his soldiers of their feet, before he brought it slamming into the body of dark elf, pulverizing both him and his raptor. Then Nathaniel faced the rest of them and screamed.
"RARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!"
With the maniacal smile on his face. It was very obvious what was about to happen next. A massacre.