Leo and his small group of soldiers were almost to the cave and as they continued to walk he asked Ash the Blue grade general what they would be up against in this fight.
Ash started by saying,"Well, Lord Leo, Crystal Hoarders are known to hibernate near elemental crystals, relax near them and fuel their nests with them. Unless they are a mutated variety of Crystal Hoarders, they will likely be a low to mid Green grade beings while their queen will most likely be a high Green grade."
Leo thought about it for a moment and asked,"Will we be able to handle it with these troops?"
Ash nodded his head and said,"Yes, Lord Leo, we should be able to handle it with these many troops. With Sir Bu finishing 24 of the Green grade Elderwood swords, our troops are much stronger than before."
Leo was curious, so he asked,"I know that you can't use elemental magic when your weapon is not at least Blue grade, so how would Green grade weapons help our soldiers?"
Ash seriously responded,"It's simple, these are, with the exception of the White grade soldiers, all Green grade soldiers. When they were summoned they wielded mere White grade equipment, so they could only fight with a limited amount of their strength. Now that they hold weapons that correspond to their own grades, they will be able to release a much better potential attack."
Leo had another question for Ash as they continued walking towards the cave, nearing the edge of his territory."Ash, how do these weapons even work? What I mean is, if the weapons have elemental energy within them, but can't actually use the elemental energy inside of them, how are they any different from the normal White grade weapons?"
Ash chuckled a bit and said,"Lord Leo, I keep forgetting that you are brand new to this world. Yes, they are very different, in fact so different that even if you made 2 weapons the exact same way but infused one with a small amount of elemental energy, the infused one would boost your strength by at least 30%."
Leo gawked a little at this staggering number and asked,"3- 3- 30%?! How?!"
Ash replied to his bewilderment with,"All elemental weapons, when used give a hidden buff effect to the user. It could be a lot of different things, but generally these buffs are the same. Swords, spreads, and halberds gain a strength buff, armor pieces gain protection or fortitude, and gauntlets and war boots give a buff too agility or striking speed."
Leo nodded his head in confirmation, finally starting to understand the huge difference between the White grade and the Green grade. Leo and his group were now only a hundred or so feet from the cave and Leo swore that he could see movement within so he stopped the convoy of soldiers.
Leo stood next to general Ash and proclaimed loudly,"You men will face horrors inside this cave, but with more people joining us by the day, and the territory becoming bigger, this is a challenge we must snuff out immediately. I feel like it is my job to lead you men into the cave, so I will not sit back Idly and force to commit suicide while I lounge around. There will be times, like now, where you will be forced to fight, however that does not mean that is not for nothing. There is always a reason! For our brothers and sisters! For Fallen Star City!"
The soldiers all listened to his speech and roared in approval! They all screamed,"For the glory of Fallen Star City!" and," For the Lord!" Ash didn't scream like them, but he sat on the side, nodding his head and smiling like a fool. Ash was a general so he of course knew the importance of keeping morale high, and it seemed like his lord understood that the cave was going to be anything but difficult.
Leo nodded towards Ash and the Ash yelled out,"You heard the wise words of the lord! Form up and move into the cave! Be careful, and let no oddity escape your sight!"
Leo watched as the white grade soldiers moved to the front and the Green grade soldiers moved to the back, while 2 Green grade soldiers flanked the White grade soldiers from the sides. Leo was a bit intrigued about the formation that Ash had come up with for this mission but decided that now was probably not a good time to question Ash, especially not when they were about to go into an ant infested cave.
Leo got behind all the soldiers with his own equipment on his body and his spear in his hand, standing next to Ash in the back.
The squad got to the mouth of the cave and before they could even get close Leo saw that at least 10 ants were rushing out of the cave, violently snapping their mandibles at the soldiers.
Ash yelled out,"Kill!" and the soldiers all screamed back,"Kill!" as they slashed at the ants and blocked their mandibles from slicing them in two.
Leo got his spear at the ready and was looking at the fighting, trying to think of a way to help. His men were too close to the ants to realistically help them with a water blade or water bullet, so leo was currently racking his brain to think of something.
Leo watched as two of the ants were stabbed by a Green grade soldier and 2 White grade soldiers, felling the ant in a few clean hits. However as soon as they got that ant, another came from behind, and snapped one of the White grades sides with its mandibles, slicing him in half at the torso!
When the White grade soldier fell, two of the Green grade soldiers angrily ran at the ant and sliced at its legs handicapping it immediately, only for them to stab its head in the next second, killing it instantly. However, before they could even celebrate their victory over the ant that slayed one of their brothers, they were attacked by another ant, forcing them to go the defense once more.
Leo saw an opportunity to help them as they ran backwards, leaving a sizable gap, and two ants with water bullet range. Leo yelled out,"Water Sharpen! Water bullet! Water Bullet!" while aiming at those two ants. As soon as the water bullets came into contact with the ants, they ripped through them, killing them instantly! The soldiers once again didn't have time to celebrate though, as they had quickly regained their composure and once again engaged another ant.
Seeing that they were now not in danger, Leo went back to trying to come up with a lethal move for this fight and viewing the battlefield as a whole. That was when Leo noticed it, the original 15 ants, were now 25 ants!
Leo turned to Ash who had a serious expression on his face, and was yelling different commands to the soldiers in this squad. He yelled at Ash,"Ash! The Ants are sending reinforcements as we fight! Make sure the soldiers are on guard to fight in a 2 vs 1 scenario!"
As soon as Leo got down yelling at Ash, Ash also took a more general look at the battlefield, realizing that Leo was indeed correct. Even though only 15 had initially come out, as they fought, made more noise, and killed the ants, more came out of the cave and joined the fight. Ash gulped down his worries though, he had a battle to win.
Leo watched as Ash personally got out his Elderwood sword and joined the fight, realizing that Ash had taken Leo's words seriously and most likely came to the same conclusion that he had. Leo and Ash both had the same thought,"We need as many people fighting concurrently as possible, or we won't be able to pass these monsters!"
Leo was really starting to rack his brain for answers as he thought about what he could possibly do with the water element to help his soldiers. Leo continued to watch as more ants slowly came out of the cave to assist the other ants get rid of the intruders. Now the ants were numbered in the 30's and it was slowly rising, even while Leo's soldiers were killing them off one by one.
Leo watched as one of his soldiers heads' was bitten off while he had tried to block with his sword from another ant. As soon as the soldier fell Leo once again saw a gap and shot his water bullets at 3 of the ants in quick succession, killing all three at once. Then as soon as it had appeared, the gap closed and Leo was once again stuck just viewing.
Leo had enough waiting around trying to think of something he could do, and just ran forwards, jumping over 2 rows of soldiers and into the hoard of ants.
Leo yelled out with all his might,"Water sharpen! Water blade!" and a water blade, almost twice the size of the ones he had called forth previously appeared on the end of his spear. Leo landed on the ground with a 'THUD!' and swung his water blade in a crescent motion, killing two ants in a single swing.
Some of the soldiers who were now behind him saw him personally fighting with them and they yelled out,"The lord is with us!" and Leo heard Ash scream out,"Kill!". After Leo had sliced the two ants into death's embrace and the soldiers had made their war cry the fighting only intensified as the soldiers hacked and maimed as many ants as they could get their hands on.
As Leo fought with the ants, he continued to think, not only on the battle, but on new techniques he could use to fight with the ants. It was clear the pure physical attacks were not going to cut it when it came to this battle.
Leo samshed the water blade into an ant that was fighting another soldier, making it scream out in pain. The soldier, seeing the opportunity to attack after being on the defensive for so long, quickly slashed his swords down on the ants head.
Seeing that the soldier was ok, Leo went back to killing the ants with his water blade, and as he slashed another one into pieces he thought to himself,"If only I had a bomb or something, then I could just blow up all these stupid ants."
That was when Leo had an epiphany, realizing that maybe he could have a bomb on this battlefield. He quickly called out to his other soldiers,"Cover me! I'm gonna try something new!"
5 Soldiers converged on his location, 1 White and 4 Green grade soldiers, forming a protective circle around him while continuing to fight the ants.
Leo focused his mind and started to imagine the water at the tip of his spear, and he quietly said,"Water ball!" At the end of Leo's spear was a very large spherical ball of water that seemed to be slightly convulsing with waves. Leo started to smile seeing that his idea might actually work and started to get to work in his mind once more, imagining the process he would have to go through for this to work.
Leo then came out of his thoughts as one of the Green grade soldiers surrounding him started to falter in his defense. Leo thought to himself,"No time like the present!" and prepared his spells.
Leo gritted his teeth and silently prayed in his mind as he yelled out,"Water Cannon!" The sphere of water shot into the air and when it was several hundred feet into the air, Leo screamed out with all his might, praying to whatever deity brought him to this world that this would work,"Water drop!"
The water ball fell from it's spot in the air and dropped to the ground extremely quickly. Leo watched as it hit the ground and then all Leo heard next from it was a resounding,"BOOOOM!!!".