The sun announced it's arrival with the purpling of the horizon. Looking at the time it was 04:53. The crack of dawn, it's been a long time since I've seen that. Honestly seeing a sunrise is subjective. If you've been up all night waiting and stalking your target, it's a horrible feeling. Because you won't be able to sleep until someone from your team decides to switch with you on the rifle.
If you've been fighting all night, seeing the sun is most wonderful, feeling in the world. The hope and determination to live another day burn within you. It revitalizes you into action. If you are new to war. For a veteran it only means seeing your dead comrades more clearly. You could be shooting all night long at an enemy position, not knowing the man in the next foxhole has died. Newbies get reckless with their hope, do something stupid and end up shot in the head. First light is a shitty time, all round. Both sides are usually low on ammo, so the situation resorts to kill shots only, or calling in bombardment, from artillery or an air strike.
I spent the night taking out guards and commanders along with Cypher. Basic tactics dictate placing your command HQ on high ground so you have a better position to observe the movement of your forces and the movement of your enemy. Sending messages and relaying orders to your forces to attack, defend, reinforce and counter attack are all given by the general in charge. And he is usually on the highest possible level to have a better overview of his forces.
That gave me a pretty clear line of sight to the command structure from the hill I was on. My hide was made pretty quickly using runes and alchemy. I got another 500g of gold. I directed Cypher to first take out the patrols around our kill box. Then we went to work. Cypher would take one guard and I the other. The invaders weren't familiar with long range snipers. The maximum range of their bows was 200 yards. So for now they worked alone or in pairs. Having a relaxed guard because their border was just a few miles behind them was also their undoing. Being able to retreat to their reserves and relaunch the invasion gave them a sense of security. It wasn't unfounded, for the Middle Ages, but asymmetric warfare would soon dissuade them of that notion.
I tried working out a plan with Cypher. Begrudgingly he became small as a normal house cat. He looked so adorable. Like a baby tiger. 🥰
Focus.
He would walk into the tents and communicate what he saw inside. The position of several high ranking commanders was divulged this way. Keeping over watch on Cypher, I could guess where I would have to shoot in order to get a kill.
A lot of men died that night. Cypher would ensure the kill and move on to the next tent. This continued for the night.
I told Cypher to knock over a few braziers and start a fire in their supply tents. He went back to full size, and swiftly proceeded to throw the invading camp into disarray. Done with the little scouting mission, I call Cypher back to the reverse slope of the hill. I covered up my hide, reamed with my suppressed MP7 and waited for him to show up.
He came back in a few minutes. I cleaned us both up, and left the area through the sparse woods. The woods got denser as we made our way back to the fortress. The elves there were on guard. There was a lot of commotion coming from the enemy camp after all. We broke through our cover and approached the side of the fort.
We were spotted and told to stop. I told them who we were and to confirm it before getting back to me. Cypher and it took a nap until late afternoon. When we were woken up by the arrival of a delegation and Asfi.
Asfi called out a few time before we stirred. Well before I was rudely stirred. Cypher woke up and was being his adorable self. Earning some brownie points from Asfi and the rest. He then flicked me across the face with his tail. It's like getting punched by Muhammad Ali. I don't know how I'm not knocked out cold right now, the headache is not exactly helping me think either.
I took a drink of a bit of elixir from my water canteen. It's watered down so as not to oversaturate my body with the elixir. It will have adverse effects down the line. I asked for water for Cypher as well. I can give him more than enough but that reveals my storage magic to outside parties.
Asfi and I talked for a while. Her mostly asking where we had run off to, and why. Me explaining our operations last night.
The delegation that came to meet Cypher and I also included the fourth princess of Zorya. Princess Catherine Stygios and her retainers were shocked at me taking out a large portion of their leadership. I said it was only the first day. I couldn't find the heavy hitters, or scouts so I took the initiative and restructured their chain of command.
The mercenaries will either take the money they have now and jump ship. Or get greedy and milk the already strained kingdom for more money and get kill for their troubles. Mercenaries, as far as I can gather are either new to the business of killing other people or experienced professionals. Experienced professionals have made a name for themselves therefore cost significantly more than the riff-raff just looking for money.
We moved the conversation inside. Due to the weather which was pretty warm at this time of the year, the plains where the Aglarians grew their crops were facing a drought. So was Zorya, it was the closest city-state of Umberous to Aglaria. From my point of view the invasion only served to fertilize the southern fields of Zorya. The elves would simply turn the corpses into a paste with magic. And then use water and wind magic to spread it around in their fields.
The invaders were nothing more than fertilizer to them. The only problem is the amount of fertilizer on their doorstep. If someone drops off 2 bags of fertilizer, no problem. 2 trucks worth of fertilizer, well, you're house is going to be smelling like shit for the next few months.
The elves were simply doing their best but the constant fighting was taking a toll. Their casualties were low. For every elf there were 1000 human casualties. But the killed elves weren't the issue. It was the ones that were captured. In the last few weeks of fighting there were a total of 29 casualties. With 23 captured. The captured ones were usually the ones fighting the mercenaries with falna. They were defiled, tortured and displayed in front of the elves. Screaming and begging to be killed as they were immolated.
That action was returned with indiscriminate slaughter of the invaders. Small groups would launch raids to harass and pester the invaders. Keeping them awake and stressed throughout the day.
There were reports of a flying man and ligerfang heading towards the enemy last night. I mean I wasn't being that stealthy. I expected to get spotted. It was either sniper or machine gun. The enemy camp didn't rise an alarm so it was sniper. I'll go with a LMG tonight. A M249 in 5.56 or a M240 in 7.62. I'd gotten rid of the Maximi for a dedicated weapon system. M249 in both calibres look the same. It's pretty easy to mistake which ammo to use and mess up the weapon. The M240 is actually pretty effective from an entrenched position. It can be used as an assault rifle but it gets very tiring after a few hours of running around with it. The M249 is lighter and has less recoil. I can move around freely without too much difficulty.
The main issue is the IFF. It actually depends on how I think of the mission given. If I go by my beliefs and the fasted method to accomplish the objective then only a few red dots appear on the MAP. If I take the elves point of view into consideration then there is effectively a red-out on the MAP. I simply want to expedite the process by which the invaders surrender and leave. This request from Hermes is taking time away from my studies and plans.
I can use runes to blow shit up. But the magic circle is visible and not really stealthy at night. Launching an attack during the day again is possible but getting shot is also certain. If you start any firefight during the day, expect to be seen and shot. Most engagements happen in the evening or early morning. Unless there is cloud cover that isn't throwing harsh shadows for the enemy to track during the day. You're not doing anything but keeping your position during the day.
After a bit more discussion, I left with Cypher to go and sleep. A proper bed, so nice.
*****19:30*****
I woke up in the evening and had dinner with Cypher. I would be a part of a squad of interested recruits. Asfi would lead the other squad. I still had to make her a proper launcher based on her new requirements and requests.
It is going to be magazine fed, and semi auto. The easiest way is to use a 25mm HE-AP round at 300m/s a 10 round magazine and a simple smoothbore barrel. The grenades themselves will have expanding fins to stabilize flight to target. I'm making it look like a simpler XM 25. None of the useless complicated nonsense. Point and shoot. If it's not dead shoot it again. She can keep the M79 and the smoke grenades. I think she'll get used to blowing shit up all the time and use the smoke and flash rounds to help her squad out a bit. She has enough ammo for now.
I also want to make this from scratch. I already have the runic circles for the monster cores setup and ready to go. I just need the rest of the parts and enchantments and we can get it made in a day. Asfi is taking her sweet time collecting all the necessary materials. I'm pretty sure she's trying to make it herself by cutting out the middle man but honestly it's not like I'm charging her labour. If I was she'd be happy with the M79.
After dinner I head out and meet the squad. Our mission is to find and mark the enemy adventurers. If possible to kill them as well. Basically a recon and infiltration scenario. The squad members are all individuals with their unique abilities and preferences. That will complicate things. I don't know how they will react to unexpected situations.
The squad under my command was a mix of men and women. They look like teenagers but are 90-130 years old. They have training and skills based on their preferences. I don't know how they will work in a unit. For this bit I'm using the M200 again along with cold weapons. I have my M249 on standby for exfil and covering fire. We'll be attacking the rear. It'll be heavily guarded due to last nights events but that's no issue.
It's time to become the reaper.