The Slayers.
They are strong in combat and gifted in killing. But that is not all that makes them special. It is their commanding ability.
When they fight monsters, they do it in teams and even multiple teams. Tougher monsters need more stringent requirements.
Sometimes a need to increase manpower, or to improve weaponry and etcetera.
The Slayers prove their leadership qualities on the battlefield without any problems.
Remena, or Rem for short is a relatively short elf. Despite appearances, she is a ferocious fighter.
Her short brown hair lightly bounces as she jumps from one man to another while driving her dual swords to their vital points.
The alacrity and acrobatic ability she displays are tremendous.
"Oi, shorty, you better pray my blades don't touch you." A burly brigand carries a giant axe on his shoulder. He exudes ferocity in his movement as he swings his sword in one swift motion seeking to cleave Rem in half.
Because she has a height complex, she wants others to refer to her as having short hair, but clearly, the brigand didn't hear the memo.
Like a gale, Rem advances with force under the brigand's legs. While at it, she severs several tendons earning a cry from the brigand.
Because of the severed tendons, the brigand drops to his knees allowing Rem to reach his neck.
As a finishing blow, Rem drives her two short swords to the brigand's neck, beheading them in one clean motion.
"Leave no one alive! Corner them from both flanks while I guard the center."
Reflecting her accurate and savage fighting style is her leadership. The port catches in flames as the mercenaries and others fall to the merciless elves' steel.
...
At the same time, on another port, an archer with braided hair is taking his sweet time to nail down the commander-type characters.
Only when he is certain that most of the commanding officers of the port are dead did he send the signal to assault the port?
The elves rush to the port's flimsy walls by firing their crossbows and using their steel bolts as stairs. The sight of the elves scaling the walls so fast is a scary sight.
Pyamon, the braided elf sends another order to the only three archers of his units who remains with him. "Pick off the escapees. Set up a perimeter around the port, and guard and watch from the inside.
After he gives his orders, he sets off to the port with still a bow in hand. He joins the slaughter with deadly accuracy, dismantling the areas he discerns to be weak.
"I see a chokepoint! Choke them from the wineries!"
Pyamon shouts to his comrades, increasing the pace of the fight once more.
This proves that the Slayers don't need to learn from the Ratatoskr who the General wants the Einherjar to learn from in terms of combating humanoid.
Pyamon observes the battlefield with a critical eye and realizes that the Einherjars make common flaws such as choosing to fight too often in tight spaces as if they are being chased, or making too wide an attack thinking of their enemies as sturdy monsters.
There is a lot for the Einherjar to learn as an army.
While the Ratatoskr does better in fighting against humanoids, they are too loose and individualistic in a sense, thus failing them as an army entirely.
In Pyamon's mind though, he would be lighter with handling the Ratatoskr as they are not an 'army' anyway and falls to another jurisdiction.
The taking down of the ports is uneventful. Dealing with various mercenaries dwelling in the ports does prove a little bit of a challenge, but the elves end up winning still.
...
After the ports, the elves proceed on attacking their personal prime targets with the assistance of their Ratatoskr.
The face-masked emo half-elf, Klim, surgically removes the owner of a big leather workshop where they process all manners of fur and hide from expensive beasts.
Klim integrates with the Ratatoskr well to the point that Klim is learning assassination techniques with ease from the Ratatoskr while working.
Several Einherjars also show interest in the assassination technique proving their endeavor to be educational.
Klim focuses on killing the owners of the business and securing their wealth. Most often, they just bury the treasure they find in a secluded place, an apt method to conceal wealth.
"Be careful of vampires. Always prepare your silver weapons, and don't use them outside of killing vampires. The silver weapons we have are of smaller design because we don't have much silver. If we chip them into fighting normal opponents, it will be a waste.
With a pragmatic approach, Klim proceeds on his missions.
...
A blonde elf with ear piercings jumps off from a building's other rooftop to the target building, directly flying to the target's bedroom.
Craching the wooden planks, Esjin pries the flimsy wooden walls with his spear.
"Hello, their~ friend..." He ominously smiles and strikes the panicking fat owner of the establishment.
From out of nowhere, a sharp dagger comes flying at Esjin's face. If not for his instantaneous reflex, Esjin will be dead.
His spear blocks the dagger setting the projectile weapon off the mark.
With vengeance, Esjin rushes forward in big steps while twirling his spear anticipating any attack.
The vampire appears, a gnarly old grandma with nails stretching out from her fingers.
They clash and exchange blows only for Esjin to realize how amateurish his foe is. Taking his suspicion to the test, Esjin makes a surprise attack by throwing a silver dagger which cleanly makes its mark on the vampire's throat killing her in one blow.
Ash spreads at her death leaving nothing behind.
The sight is disturbing, but not for so long as Esjin recollects himself.
Arriving at the bottom of the building, he smells the thick noxious stench of the herbs.
"Sir, we cannot bring them home. We can only burn them. The kingdom has plenty of these herbs and we don't need it."
Esjin nods to the Ratatoskr and gives him permission to do as he like aware of it will be for the best of the elves if they do not have competition in selling drugs.
...
With an eyepatch and red hair, a deadly elf makes her presence on the battlefield as she inflicts her enemies with many lacerations.
A small coalition of humans and vampires try to run from them, but the elves are persistent like glue to paper.
Blood and ash scatter everywhere every time she swings her dual scythes. The scythe Morana uses is known as a farming tool but to her hands, it is a comfortable weapon for murder.
Her orthodox style confuses her enemies, and at the same time, makes her the center of attention which gives the other members a chance to breathe.
Like her choice of weapon, her leadership is also unorthodox.
She brings people to her side through her charisma and bold action, and it seems the Ratatoskr has already warmed up to her, not to mention the Einherjar.
They continue to hunt vampires and humans alike with precise control and freedom over their mission objectives.
"Scare them a little bit. Have more elves ahead and prepare traps for them. No need to make killer traps, they only need to be immobilized. We will take care of the rest."
With a malicious smile, Morana's contingent shrinks the perimeter a little bit more.
...
Speaking of hunting vampires, the excentric elf who dyed her hair green, Jean, is having a great time as she slaughter a dozen vampires with her sword whip.
Only recently Jean is learning the sword whip and is getting closer to mastering it in no time.
The skill that the sword whip demands from a blacksmith is immense. But it doesn't need as much metal as other weapons like a sword, spear, or axe.
With deadly accuracy, the sword whip slithers like a snake as it finds its mark on multiple vampires surrounding her.
Realizing their mistakes, the vampires decide to retreat only to learn too late that they are surrounded by Jean's subordinates.
Jean is daring, surpassing bold. Using herself as bait, she manages to round up a group of vampires with little effort.
"Squad Captain, what do we do with this?"
An Einherjar asks Jean while he points at the only surviving vampire who only has a severed arm.
Jean answers succinctly.
"Let him go. We cannot kill them all. The General commanded us to let some of them go. I cannot help it if I am too perfect."
Letting out the slip of the tongue, Jean covers her mouth shyly realizing her inappropriate words.
Her squads though know.
Jean is actually and secretly a narcissist.
Her flaws aside, just like the other Slayers, she is a reliable ally.
...
Slowly, but surely, the perimeter continues to shrink.
Anytime soon, the Dark Lands will be theirs.