Nathaniel heard the sounds of a battle long before they came up to a hill that over looked the fortress. It was a colossus of carved stone that gleamed under the dim covering of the dark lands. But currently this gray piece of art, with towers almost two hundred meters tall, and reinforced walls fifty feet in the air, was under attack from a smattering of war machines.
There were catapults, ballista, and a huge battering ram that kept on banging on the fifteen inch thick, twenty feet tall metal gate of the fortress. The fortress was already on fire, and from the looks of things, it would not take very long for it to fall.
"My lord are we not going to attack?" Brutus asked with a pensive tone.
Nathaniel looked at Brutus and spoke to him in a reparatory tone, almost as if he was talking to a child.
"You can't be that stupid Brutus, those guy's outnumber us four to one. It will be suicide."
Brutus looked taken aback for a moment, before he lapsed into silence watching the battle as it progressed. Then he turned again and bowed.
"Forgive my lord for being so daring and outspoken, but you took on a force of 500 dark elves practically on your own. I refuse to believe your ferociousness would not be able to take on a force of this size. I have never seen power as immense as yours my lord, I believe this should be nothing more than a walk in the forest for you."
Nathaniel kept on staring at him in silence for a whole minute. But to Brutus that minute probably felt like a million years as his back became drenched in sweat at the thought of him offending a being this powerful. Then Nathaniel broke into a smile.
"No need to be so stiff Brutus, it's not as if what you said was wrong. Your talent for ass kissing aside, with the force I have, it wouldn't take me much to slaughter them all. But you can't come to your own engagement empty handed can you?"
Brutus looked even more confused than ever before, Nathaniel was not making sense, and his playful way of talking made it seem like he was not even interested in what was happening.
"My lord I don't believe I understand what you mean."
"Oh you don't?, well that's a problem. Let me explain it for you, in a life I used to live, there were stories of heroes, dragons, and princesses. The most told story however is about a princess in distress who needs her knight in shining armor, who 99% of the time turns out to be a prince who saves her.
So in simple terms, you see that fortress over there?, there's a princess in it, and she's waiting for her prince charming AKA me, to come and save her. And when I do we will get married and live happily ever after."
Brutus looked like had swallowed a frog, he could not begin to imagine what was going on in Nathaniel's mind. This was an insane plan, and it wouldn't work!
"My lord I have to advice against this course of action, the Dark elves are a prideful race, and it is ruled by a demoness. They never bow their heads for any male, and I know you will not bow to a female either my lord. Even if she agrees to marry you, she would do it on the premise that she gains power over you, there's no way this would work. It's impossible."
"Brutus you worry to much, I already broke a dark elf a few days ago, who says I won't be able to do it again, and to a female at that. I'm sure you know from experience how talented I am with females."
Brutus shut his mouth with a click and fought hard to keep his shaking body in control. He was filled with wrath for loosing the wife he loved and cherished. Nathaniel poking at his wounds did not make it any easier to heal. It took a significant amount of control to stop himself from lashing out at Nathaniel.
Nathaniel knew he should not be aggravating Brutus anymore than he already had, especially since Brutus was someone close to his vicinity most of the time. But with the current state of affairs in the dark lands, it was only a matter of time before Nathaniel no longer had any use for his expertise. Though in this case Nathaniel was the evil dude, but so what?, he was in hell and he had to play the part he was given.
"We will be attacking soon enough, we just have to wait for confirmation from our friends up top."
Nathaniel was being as vague as possible, he didn't trust Brutus, and it was not because he had given any sign for Nathaniel to distrust him, but because it was instinctual for him. By all means and purposes Brutus is supposed to be Nathaniel's enemy, after all Nathaniel had taken something he was not supposed too.
And Brutus's natural disposition was that of a schemer, who knew what this dude was plotting behind those shifty eyes of his.
There was a loud bang as the gate shifted up and out off it's massive hinges, it was a distance of almost six to seven hundred meters away, yet Nathaniel could see what was happening as clear as day.
His abilities in hell so far had been nothing short of a massive cheat, of course this power came at the detrimental loss of the system, but he did not think it was too bad of a trade off. He was unable to gauge how strong he now was, and he was unable to use his skills from his time as a druid, but when you had a superior defense, speed, strength, stamina, and senses all skills become useless to you.
"My lord are we not going to attack?" Brutus asked with panic in his voice as it seems the gate was almost breached.
"Not yet Brutus, hold on. Head to the back of the line, I need you out of the way for what I'm about to do."
"But my lord!..."
"Just do it!" Nathaniel snapped at him.
Brutus gave a bow and made his way through the ranks of soldiers behind them. It did not make any difference whether Brutus stayed at the back or the front, but Nathaniel had noticed one of Vane's spider's, and he did not want anything he had to say to be heard by him.
"My lord one of the boulders have been secured, the other should be under our control in fifteen minutes."
Nathaniel looked at the battlefield and frowned, the gate would not last five minutes, much less fifteen minutes. If they had to make a move, they needed to make it now."
"Vane I want that boulder under my control in five minutes!"
"Yes my lord, I shall speed up the process."
"How far out are you and Eve with the main force?"
"My lord by my estimates, we should be at your position in three days. The community is five days behind as Eve was adamant about moving the entire company. Please bear with us for a while longer. We will be there sire." Vane said with a solemn tone.
Nathaniel shook his head and smiled. It seems like he was smiling more and more than was usual, and this smile did not come from when he was carrying out a massacre. It was shocking, but even in hell, he had people that he really cared for and cared for him.
"There's no problem Vane, you arrival time is just perfect enough for my plan. Trust me, by the time you get here, your lord would have conquered a fortress and a priestess for you. God speed to you my friend."
"And to you too my lord."
And with that the spider crawled out of his ear. Almost immediately Nathaniel put his finger in his ear and shook it vigorously, he scrunched his face as his pupils dilated from the pleasure of scratching his ear, no wonder dogs loved this so much.
Nathaniel pulled himself to his full height and held Balancer close to his chest, raising the sword so that split his face in two halves. The blade on its own was three inches wide and thin, very thin. But even with that, it was still as heavy as it was when it was still a massive broadsword.
Nathaniel turned to his soldiers and raised his sword into the air, almost immediately they started to stomp their feet and found their weapons against the shields. Then he looked Back at the battlefield as said to them.
"Omaye's!! What. Are. We. Here. For."
"BLOOOOOD!!!!"
"Omaye's!! What. Do. We. Live. For!"
"WAAAARRRRRRR!!!!"
Then he turned back with a smile on his face and said.
"Then what are you waiting for. CHARGE!!"
"ROOOARRRR!!"
Maybe the voices of three hundred and fifty men was not loud enough to draw the attention of a two thousand man army. But when that army is being led by someone like Nathaniel, then it becomes a whole other ball game. The captain of this rabble of soldiers began to give his orders and set his men into formation.
"Arrow head! Formation! Hut!"
Then three hundred soldiers clustered together until they looked like an arrow if their formation was seen from above. The soldiers on the outer edge of the formation, used their shields to make the body of the arrow head, keeping them safe from any attack from the sides.
Then the soldiers in the middle raised their shields to cover their heads, leaving none of them exposed to enemy fire. With their gleaming silver shields, which was gotten after Nathaniel went through a lot of trouble subduing a tribe of fire spitting demonic blacksmiths, they began to march towards their enemy, looking like an arrow that was just shot out of a bow.
In hell the most used strategy was swarming, they loved to play the numbers game.
After all hell had the population to maintain such a tactic in all their wars. It was primitive, but it was what they did best. Only a few of them ever truly made the effort to implement strategies in their fights, and even then formations were very rare if not outright nonexistent. Demons were hot headed and straight forward, it was rare for you to find one who used his head more than his muscles or his dick.
Which was why it came as no surprise to Nathaniel when the attacking soldiers were completely stumped and surprised by what they had seen, what sort of an army was this. And why in all that is unholy were they using shields. Such a move was very un demon like and shameful.
A contingent of demons broke off from the main force to meet Nathaniel's advancing soldiers, this reduced the pressure on the dark elves defending the fortress. Brutus came to stand beside Nathaniel once again as they watched the approaching army, it was safe to say that Brutus was very nervous with the way he was fidgeting and pacing.
Nathaniel did not blame him, after all in a place as muscle brained as hell, which idiot would send a force of three hundred and fifty soldiers against an opposing force three to almost four times their size, this was nothing short of suicide. But Nathaniel did not worry too much, he was sure that every observing party were in for a shock, and this battle would probably be in the history books for years to come.
"My lord, won't you join the battle?" Brutus asked with skeptism
Nathaniel gave a wry smile as he swung Balancer a few times, making a whoosh sound as the air and dust around him was disturbed by the sheer power and speed of the sword.
"There's no need for me to get involved, I can't always fight for my soldiers, and this is a good way for them to get stronger. Besides those bunch of unrefined barbarians would not even leave a scratch on my demons. As they are now, they're unbeatable, at least.....not by this fools."
As soon as he finished speaking there was a loud crash as painful yells and crashing sounds from the meeting of weapons resounded around the area. Nathaniel looked down and saw, that the battle had started.