The encampment descended into chaos. Soldiers scattered, caught off guard by the sudden onslaught. The beasts were ethereal and deadly, their forms shifting and merging with the night. They were a nightmarish blend of creatures, each more terrifying than the last. Shadow wolves with eyes of burning embers, griffins cloaked in darkness, and spectral serpents slithered amongst their ranks, their very essence seeping dread.
After the 5 generals killed the shadow wolf they walked out of the main tent and saw their soldiers fighting with various type of war beasts.
As Alaric, a stage 9 apprentice knight, unsheathed his sword, a shadow beast lunged at him. It was a massive, late-stage rank 2 Twilight bear, its form shimmering with an eerie luminescence. He parried the attack, his blade slicing at the beast's sturdy form, only to watch it make a light wound, unscathed. "Shit, this bears hide is f*king tough!" he shouted in frustration. "What the hell is a late-stage rank 2 beast doing here!!"
A cloaked figure emerged amidst the turmoil. It was Maelis, the kingdom of Florathell's great archer general. "Arrow of Light" he murmured. His bow glowed with an ethereal light, and with a booming release of his draw, a radiant arrow shot out toward the Twilight bear. The bear was severely wounded by the arrow.
"They are weak to the element of light. Keep their attention, I will deal with them as fast as possible." Maelis shouted to the other 4 generals. "All right, quickly deal with this f*king bear. My attacks have almost no effect on this thing." Alaric shouted.
Maelis wasted no time and drew his bow once more, aiming at the bears' weak spots. He took a deep breath and breathed out. "BOOM" the arrow shot out hitting squarely between the brow of the mighty twilight bear, taking its life.
The generals seeing the chaos and the soldiers still fighting quickly scattered as they quickly killed off the remaining shadow beasts. Alaric, being the strongest of the generals, called over their subordinates to report casualties and so on.
As they listened to the report the faces of the generals became a frightening black. Looking like they could devour the darkness itself. It was reported that due to their fast response although chaotically they were able to come out with minimal losses. They had only lost 30 soldiers to the war beast's attack. But what made their faces go dark is the fact that due to the losses they suffered in the last four days in the forest, they in total lost one-seventh of their force already and they did not even begin the main battle.
As the report ended, the tent fell dead silent before Alaric spoke coldly," Those war beasts contain the element of Shadows and the only place in the whole eastside here that has shadow beasts is the Darkness Mountain in the west of the Great Elpine forest."
"Indeed, those beasts also usually stay on their mountain and almost never comes down, especially a rank 2 beast." Maelis replied. "It seems someone deliberately sent them to us." He spoke.
"What, do you think the King of Beasts would attack us?" One man asked. "No even though the king of beasts rules the mountain. He is too lazy to do anything and would never leave his lair." Alaric scoffed.
"It seems the young king of the Vale is quite the strategist." he said. "How is it possible, for a boy to come up with these things I don't believe it could be him." another general said indignantly. "You seem to forget how the Verdant Vale became so strong" Alaric responded.
''The kingdom of Verdant Vale began growing stronger from almost falling out to an unranked kingdom to becoming a kingdom so strong that we had to ally together to win." Alaric said. "And don't forget we lost quite a few men during the last four days in the forest without being able to counterattack."
"If that is true, what do you suggest we do then Alaric?" Maelis asked.
"For now, we are exhausted and wounded. We shall rest for the night and regroup the following day. Then we will decide from where to invade."
"But if we wait, we will be sitting ducks!" a tall and thin man said somewhat angrily. "What do you propose us to do then, attack when we nothing of the surroundings. We have no knowledge of the terrain. Now that we suffered a beast attack, we are wounded and if we go roaming now, we would be like a deer being eyed by a wolf. The scouts have virtually all been killed, and we know nothing of the Vale's current strength, we haven't even seen them." Alaric responded coldly as he stared at the man who spoke out.
"This is not the time to argue" Maelis intervened as he sensed the tension rising. "We will rest and decide tomorrow."
Due to Maelis speaking up, the tall man could not say anything as Maelis is the 2nd strongest general here and the head general of the Florathell kingdom that is here. He coldly glared at Alaric before turning his back and walking out as he scoffed.
< Verdant Vale Camp >
Ethan and his 3 generals were having a luxurious meal as they talked leisurely when the tent flap opened and a man wearing golden armor with a white cape entered, it was a lieutenant from the Dawnbringers Order.
"My lords, news has been sent. The enemy has been successfully attacked by the war beasts of darkness mountain, there was even a late-stage rank 2 Twilight bear in the mix and sustained a few casualties. Nothing substantial, but we have found out there lurks another captain level general in the camp. His strength at the 7th- stage." The man said, he bowed and then left.
"Haha, it seems your majesty has foreseen it clearly. To think they sent a late-stage knight in the dark." Magnus laughed out loud. '' I did not think they would send extra soldiers, but I wanted to make sure. But tell me Captain Rowan, how were you able to send the shadow beasts running?" Ethan asked, turning to Rowan who was sitting on his right.
"It took me quite a while, but I have not failed you, my lord. The beasts are innately sensitive to shadow elements and they like shadows, fear and hate the light element. The light element has the capability to easily kill them if used correctly, but it is because of that, that they will do anything in their power to eliminate the threat. I just borrowed a few guys from the Dawnbringers to use light elements. They snuck into the camp with the help of my shadows and then took the opportunity to attract the beasts. I just did not expect for a rank 2 Twilight bear to rain down its wrath on them. Hahaha." Rowan laughed visibly pleased with his achievement.
"Hahaha, indeed, you did very well Rowan." Ethan laughed, "But it's not over, they will probably recuperate in the next 2 days. We must keep an eye out for when they intend to strike and where, Rowan let your ravens keep an eye on the camp movement. Magnus how is the construction of the barrier coming along on by the Jubi river?"
"It is going smoothly, my Lord. We will be able to finish the barrier at eve tonight." Magnus replied quickly.