War councils were boring, but it was important. Asare, Kuyait, Magellan, Kodak, Gus, Teluna(here after throwing a tantrum and yelling at Asare), Black and White, Farina, Malek, Xaseah, Asha, and my annoying little sister Rhea. It was a full house.
"I've come up with a full proof strategy, or something close enough to it. But I still need all your inputs. The enemies in the blue district are scattered all over, and at the moment we only have to contend with four major forces. Together they might be able to put up a fight, but after their terrible losses, everyone of them have chosen to protect their own base. I suggest we split up the army into four, and deploy them against each of the forces, wiping them out once and for all." I explained to them.
"That's too risky master Kael." Kuyait spoke up, with Asare backing her up by nodding his head.
"Doing so would leave our flanks open, and the city nigh defenseless. New immigrants are still coming in everyday, and enemies can use that method to cause problems. Or even launch an attack from behind us. The blue district is much too big for us to completely canvass; which means until the Satellite and surveillance drones are made, we can only fight this guys the old fashion way. We have to be smart" Kuyait further explained.
Gus came forward as his voice rang across the minds of everyone present here.
"According to Malek, it would take anything from two weeks to three months to make the Satellite. The drones would take a shorter time, but Nefisat will have her hands full with the construction, so spending resources on crafting those drones is not a good plan in the long run. And we also can't wait, we've already taken too long to take action, and that's because we all needed time to grief. We've given them enough to prepare while simultaneously quaking in their boots. They know we're coming and they'll be ready."
Gus was right. We couldn't be too hasty about launching an attack, and we couldn't be too slow about it either. We have to put a meticulous plan in place that would ensure not just the lives of the soldiers, but the complete and utter defeat of our enemies.
"I have a suggestion." Rhea suddenly spoke up. I raised an eyebrow and gave a simple shrug as acknowledgment.
"I think we should go after them one by one, but not with a full force. Basically we destroy one force, and march on the others as slow as possible. Force them into an alliance and then use some guerilla tactics on them. An alliance means they have to move from one place to another, this is not a properly trained army which means we're overestimating them, however underestimating them would be stupid too. During their movements, we'll pick them off, one at a time. Taking a bite out of them slowly and unexpectedly. Take one out, and force the remaining three to gather in one place, which gives you two options. Torture them slowly by attacking with a rhythm rather than a wave, or just blow them up to kingdom come. We have two dragons and enough individual fire power to carry it out. Then we let the police do a thorough sweep of the district, after all it should under their own jurisdiction."
What a sharp mind, though I think it's my fault for not noticing sooner. Rhea was not like other kids her age, heck every kid here did not act or think like their age. Her intelligence was something that would give most grown ups a run for their money.
It was a good plan, way better than what I came up with. I don't have to spilt up the army, or leave my ass unprotected against enemy attacks. I could take care of it, in just three simple steps. I looked up at the others and asked.
"Everyone in agreement?"
Equal chorus of yes's and nods filled my ears and visions. I gave them a stiff nod and a warm smile before I said to them.
"Good, now this Is what we need to do, have....."
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Vampires were fast, scarily so. Being the perfect combination of speed, strength and defense has made them nigh invisible in any fight. Of course with great advantages, also come great disadvantages. The inability to walk in sunlight or ultraviolet light of any kind, and their dependence on blood to survive. It's one of their greatest weaknesses along with their weakness to silver, running water, and blessed metals and holy water. But all those aside, if vampires wanted to be dangerous, then there's no one safe.
I was hanging off the side of a tower almost a hundred feet in the air, watching the small slum community my soldiers were about to invade. Jaderon Iron Skin has quite the reputation among vampires and the gangs that lived within the blue district. He was a beast man, to be more specific a Rhino man. Or well he was anyway. About 500 years back, give or take a few, the idiot fell in love with a vampire from the Hom'rugr bloodline coven.
She was royalty and the current head Bien, while he was just a common thug. Safe to say their relationship didn't end well, and he ended up with a sliced fore horn and a broken heart. He became a leader of a gang, in the slums of the pit, his go to business being running a brothel and a trafficking ring. To prolong his short life, seeing as beast men don't leave past 200,he became a vampire, and from what I hear a damn good one at that.
"Master Kael there are innocent bystanders within the community. A bombardment would put them in danger, we have to go for a direct confrontation. There's still going to be casualties, but not as much as raining skills and spells on them from distance." I heard Kuyait say to me from her perch on the wall beside me.
"Fine. Surround the area and send in our soldiers from four cardinal directions like a wheel. However maintain the circle to prevent our enemies from escaping, and keep the mages in front. Or any other person with long range skills or spells. Avoid melee combat as much as possible."
"Yes sir!"
Then she jumped down to relay my orders. I watched as the soldiers surrounded the community. They had already put down their ceremonial uniforms, and were each wearing a skin tight black camouflage suit, with a hooded coat. It might seem fashionable, but this was a quick hit, armor was not required. The suit they had one was reinforced and made from the same polymorphic metal as my sword and shield.
The community was a gang controlled territory, it was not really big, just about the size of a small village or town. Which meant they were not ready, didn't help that I came when most of them were asleep.
BOOOOOOM!
The assault began in earnest as flashes of flames and light suffused the community. My soldiers kept to their formation and attacked in a frenzied but united front, sweeping the community from four directions. They couldn't tell where exactly the attacks were coming from, so the gang members were incapable of rallying themselves and mounting a comeback.
Though the entire exchange was not completely easy, the opponents seemed to value close combat rather than ranged combat classes. It meant that many of them were just sitting ducks and unable to even defend themselves in the face of our assault.
There were more vampires than other races in this gang, however the vampires were mostly turned from other races, and I watched as a herd of Rhino men gathered around the north central part of the community.
This group of people were probably the closest to the leader, rather than being part of a coven, they were a herd. An angry stampeding herd that was charging straight for my army. Attacks were being thrown at them, but they just harmlessly bounced of their grey skin.
They crashed into the first line of attackers, stomping through and past a lot of them, like an actual stampede of a rhinoceros herd. Their momentum had strength and defense, and there seemed to be a shimmering energy over their body, that was rapidly coalescing into an energy image of a charging rhino.
It looked like an elder's avatar skill, but this was different. It only took me a moment for me to realize what it was, and when I did I was really shocked. To an average eye, it looked like this herd was just charging forward without any plan whatsoever, but when I looked closer, the erratic forward charging motion; had. A method to it. They were charging forward, but not like a mindless herd, but rather like an actual body. Fore limbs forward, torso, hind quarters etc. It's a freaking formation!
There was no time to waste. There were normal formations like what my army currently used. Just a specific way to arrange the troops in a fight. And then there were battle formations that drew power from the soldiers and the essence energy in the air, and could change the course of an entire battle. But those sort of formations were incredible rare, so how in God's name did it fall into the hand of a slum ruling gang boss? I'll figure it out later, because right now I had to figure out a way to slow their momentum, or they'll bulldoze through everything, even the innocent bystanders.
One minor teleportation later, and I was standing in front of the incoming stampede. I pulled my sword and shield out, and took a serious and up close look at the formation. Straightforward formations like this can be cracked from any angle.
You just have to cause enough damage to an integral part of its structure; in the same manner a lion would go for a weak point when hunting. So it could be anything from a jugular vein, or it's hind quarters and even it's eyes.
I raised my shield higher as it's surface rippled. It became concave in form, with the edge bent a little inward. Then a rune circle appeared on it's surface, etched in a blaze of blue as my soul energy saturated the shield. [SHIELD]. This was part two of what I needed to stop their momentum, now let's go with part one.
"Perception Cutting Gleam!"
This move was brighter and a whole lot faster than the last time I used it. And my arm and sword were nothing but a blur when I swung it. The gleam flew and impacted three of rhino men running in the periphery of the formation.
This move did not cause any physical damage, but the mental anguish it caused, was enough to have all three rhino men stumble to the ground with a loud boom. Their fates were not pretty as they were run over by their own comrades and the formation fell apart.
More and more rhino men were stumbling over each other as a huge pile up with an unstoppable momentum headed straight for me. To be honest such a sight was rather intimidating, and I felt the urge to turn around and run. There were more than two hundred six foot six tall rhino men vampires, of pure muscle, speed and animalistic masculinity heading for me. Even a god will get nervous.
I infused my soul energy into my shield, and watched as a giant rune circle came to life, creating a golden energy shield in front of me. But it was not enough, not for me at least; so I added one more skill.
"Essence Bastion!"
A silver metallic glow sprung up and covered the surface of the rune circle. A scent of metal spread into the air, as metallic essences gathered to make the shield three times as strong as it was previously. I braced myself, and kept my eyes on the runaway train of stampeding rhino men. This; might hurt a bit.
"BOOOOM!"