"Fuck! I was afraid this would happen," Lucian cursed. "Aeon, follow me. Carry the manual."
Aeon was confused as to why he had to follow, but he did as he was ordered. He carefully folded the map they found and inserted it on the first page of the manual. He then proceeded to carry it.
The soldier saluted and led the way outside.
As they walked, Lucian talked to Aeon.
"Aeon, didn't you find it weird that the enemies limited their invasion to the Florentine Empire? For the longest time, I've been wondering about this. Not even a single Meredith town was taken over," Lucian said.
Now that the Emperor mentioned it, Aeon did find it weird. He hadn't really thought about it before. Maybe it was because he wasn't up to date with the news? Nevertheless, it truly was weird.
Strangely though, this statement seemed to be something that the emperor just wanted to share because, the next moment, he talked about a different matter.
"The army we sent was able to secure a few of those bastards, and we found out something pretty interesting," Lucian laughed, "it was funny, actually."
"What is it?" Aeon asked, curious.
"They didn't speak our language."
Lucian guffawed. Though it seemed like he was laughing out of frustration instead of mirth.
Aeon cocked an eyebrow. He knew that the goal for their attack was to fish for some info. But the enemies actually didn't speak the continent's common tongue?
"How did you get information out of those you captured then?"
"We couldn't."
Couldn't?
"So capturing them was useless?" he asked.
Lucian nodded, finally collecting himself after a good bout of laughter. "Except for knowing that we couldn't understand each other, they're basically useless. But this does bring one solid point."
"What?"
"They shouldn't be able to find out about the division of empires. Was it simply a coincidence that they didn't touch our border cities and towns? I wouldn't think so."
Well… come to think of it, they couldn't get info from the enemy hostages. So this should be applicable to the enemies as well. Their hostages shouldn't be able to give info either.
The Emperor was right. This was puzzling.
I guess that opening statement wasn't just something he wanted to share. Aeon scratched his head.
"One thing is for sure though," Lucian turned towards Aeon, "if they know about the empires, then they know more about us. Now they probably have everything they needed to know and are going all out."
Aeon's eyebrows furrowed as he frowned. This was going to be more than problematic.
The three picked up the pace.
….
Three hours later, outside the southern wall of Fermin Town.
The people began cleaning up the mess in the refugee site. The citizens' rampage had not been tame, so every inch of the place had been turned over.
Many adults sighed in frustration, but what could they do? Their families were inside the town. They couldn't risk provoking the citizens.
On the other hand, the students were starting to calm down. Although those who were fairly emotional weren't able to contain themselves and cried.
At least those adults still have their families, they thought.
The soldiers were directing the cleaning so that everything would proceed in a more orderly fashion.
And everyone followed obediently.
Who would have thought that during that moment of peace, out of the blue, the alarm of the town would start ringing?
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Being people who have heard that sound a lot of times in the past year, they had a lighter reaction compared to those of the people in town.
They started hearing the hustle and bustle of the streets, probably because the people were rushing to get home where it was safe.
But that was the least of the refugees' concern.
They turned towards the south.
To be honest, none of them were surprised. They have been expecting it to happen every single day for the past five months. In their heads, they were able to defend themselves in Cora City. Then why not in Fermin Town? They even had more help here.
Mages of the Meredith Empire began to take their places in the high walls. Some rushed towards the forefront of the refugee site.
The refugees did not remain idle. They would be assisting as promised.
They immediately reorganized themselves. Experienced mages at the front, common ones at the back. Even the students took a role.
On the horizon, they started seeing silhouettes of people riding atop magical beasts.
They're here!
The moment that the first silhouette became visible to them, the Meredith soldiers posted on the walls began casting their spells. Wind started to gather around their staves and tomes.
Was it a coincidence that they were all wind mages?
Not at all!
Because this was part of their tactic.
The area south of the refugee site was immediately engulfed by hurricanes. It spread out in front of them, like a wall of storms. But then, it started to thin, slowly turning into mist.
The soldiers of the Meredith Empire stood about 200 meters behind the mist, waiting for the enemies to emerge. Not even moments later, they started hearing explosions from within the mist. Their enemies have started attacking, wary about people lurking inside.
They also started to feel the wind stirring.
The enemies were trying to break the mist's cover by using their own magic.
But how could it be that simple?
Those Wind Remorans keeping the mist in place have been practicing this for years. Blow the mist away? Naive! We'll just bring them back!
The mist appeared to be breaking apart, but the gaps in between were immediately mended. It did not lose its effectiveness one bit.
The enemies changed their plans, forgetting about wasting their time on the misty haze. Instead, they started launching spells way inside the mist, hoping that those would reach the other side and destroy the mages responsible for the cover.
But if breaking this strategic arrangement were that easy, then it wouldn't have been so dreadful.
The mist swayed. A few small holes were torn open, revealing the twisted magic their enemies hurled at them.
The Support Remorans saw this and calmly responded.
Defensive Spells!
All sorts of protection were put up, crashing against those destructive projectiles.
Useless!
For a moment, the battlefield was silent.
The enemies stopped attacking.
….
Should they enter the mist? If they won't wouldn't their attack end in vain?
Should they bank on those wind mages not being able to keep the Mist spell active? That would be stupid. They're literally maintaining only one spell. It wasn't even a high-ranked one. If those responsible were at least C-ranked, then they would be able to keep it up for days! With the right rotation of people, maybe weeks, or even months!
"We're not stopping here," the enemy commander yelled in their native tongue.
With this battle cry, they all dived into the mist.
This was a mistake that they shouldn't have made.
The mist was extremely thick. One could barely see two meters ahead. They soon found out that they would have difficulty coordinating with each other with the current set up. Should they turn back?
No! They can't!
They continued to charge along with their magical beast mounts.
Fifty meters in. Then a hundred. A hundred and fifty!
After more than 200 meters inside the mist, they finally crossed to the other side. Unfortunately for them, the locals of the continent weren't welcoming.
They had been blind inside the mist.
But their enemies weren't. The mages keeping the Mist spell had vague impressions about where the enemies were. So when they finally emerged, glowing wands and tomes welcomed them.
They immediately put up their defenses. They could! They were fast enough. However, if that was the case, then how strong were the spells prepared by the locals?
They immediately found out.
BANG!
A thick blanket of spells moved to lay waste on their troops. Spells after spells were put up to protect them, but they were still swept away by the tsunami of magic. The commander wasn't even able to fight. His body was torn to shreds by the raging whirlwind of ice.
….
Naturally, that wasn't all of their forces. There were multiple groups, each having a leader. They all charged into the mist together. But when they saw how the first troop was annihilated, they stopped advancing. They needed to pull back and restrategize. They hadn't been aware of this kind of defensive tactic.
They needed a way to break the mist before proceeding with the attack!
This was the assessment of the second commander. Who would have known that it would be his last?
The moment he urged his mount to turn back, he saw something shimmer within the mist. But it was only for a moment.
The next, his head was already flying.
….
Magical beasts have better senses compared to humans, so they naturally acted before their riders. However, the advance of the Meredith mages was like a surging tide.
They were detected by the beasts, but they couldn't respond in time.
About a hundred Serans lurked inside the mist, marking an enemy, kill after kill. These Serans were trained to fight with limited visibility. Not only that, but their melee combat abilities were also top-notch.
Inside the mist, they were almost invincible.
They did not need to worry about Area spells. Their enemies wouldn't risk killing their own comrades long as they still had men inside the mist, so they wouldn't see any of that unless they lost all hope and just self destruct.
The number of Serans the Meredith sent in were controlled as well. From time to time a Seran would either go in or go out of the mist. This was to keep everything in order.
If they all jumped inside, then they would be just like their enemies. Communication would be close to impossible.
Yes. In this strategy, there was still communication. This was being led by the mist controllers.
They would send signals inside the mist to pass messages. Where to go, when to get out, how many enemies are left.
This tactic was the fruit of their painstakingly brutal training under the Marshall.
Meredith Empire might have been the second smallest empire, but it housed the best wind mages on the continent.
Through their efforts, this strategy or type of warfare was born.
This was the Mist Warfare.
….