Deep within the Demon Forest
"Contact HQ, we have a situation." Men covered in leaves, draped in camouflage, held out binoculars, watching a hundred or so men traverse through the forest; the position they had was elevated enough to allow them to see the outskirts of Juro with binoculars; they were lightly armed and defended. What provided shelter from the elements was a layer of fine netting with a blanket of plastic and real leaves and artificial grass; this made them blend with the environment in case of any wyvern flyovers or patrols from the native town.
Five men manned the observation post, though they were well aware that they may be spotted if the native force sent forward parties to the hills they are in; their orders were not to engage.
The Führer has stressed this out multiple times in the past five days.
"We've spotted an armed force, possibly a company, will continue to keep watch on the situation" The radioman spoke quietly, making sure not to make more noise than needed to send out the report.
"Understood Post 114, will relay to HQ now, Post 51 out" The man on the other side hung up, the eerie chippering of this strange world's birds could be heard all around them, this was good noise for Post 114, but too much will only cause distraction.
A man stood guard, surveying the surrounding area of dark bark and grass, vigilant of any sign of movement.
"Keep your head down, Klaus" Someone from behind called the guard to lay low, which he did immediately.
The last native soldier has finally disappeared into the forest.
The radio operator took hold of the phone, placing it to his head he spoke into it.
"They've disappeared" He said, his eyes still trail the now closing gates of the castle town.
The Forest
The clattering and clinking of armor echoed through the forest, the disciplined lines of men, equipped with bows and arrows, swords and shields and even wands and staves followed the lead, the magic casters walked in the center of the formation, the archers were sandwiched between the fighters and casters.
"A simple formation, but it's quite unbreakable" An officer of the expedition commented atop his steed, his hand stayed on the hilt of his sword, ready to swipe and stab the demons.
Pfuuuum
The men halted, archers were at the ready, pulling their armed bows at the treeline while the casters prepared their mouths to cast, the fighters raised their kite shields, the sword readied to swing.
For a while, none moved, they waited for the demon's dirty strike, their tactics were unconventional to humans, but to the men under the two heroes of the 2nd Demon War, they were well versed in the way of the demon.
Then, out of nowhere, arrows fly by, however crude they were, they didn't need to be refined, they only had to hit their target, hoping to get it's poison in the eyes, mouth or nose for its effects to kick in.
"SHIELDS UP!" The fighters complied, shields were up, protecting the archers from the rain of arrows.
"CASTERS AQUAVOLENS FRONT!" The casters raised their wands or staves, aiming at the trees where the arrows were flying from, they steadied their hand.
"AQUAVOLENS!" Jets of water rushed out of the mediums of the casters, letting out a powerful stream of water, it was precise and deadly, and with the amount of jets there were, it managed to destroy the trunks of several trees, puncturing the sides or centers, but it was not enough to make them go down.
But the rain of arrows continued, the casters hasn't killed a single one yet.
"Fighters! Ready to charge! Casters! Cast Protego Corpis!" The men readied, everyone seemed to glow after the spell, the once tight formation turned spaced after it, there was something like a bubble that forced everyone to separate, but the commanding officer expected it.
"CHARGE!" The knights suddenly raced through the forest, the archers and casters followed suite slowly, they were still vigilant of the surroundings.
But under the cover of the dead leaves and grass, men who spoke a different language watched the fantasy army traverse through the forest, armed with assault rifles, they kept close watch of them.
"Post 90, this is Post 111, expect the natives soon, they are dead ahead to you guys" A man whispered to an unfamiliar contraption.
"Thanks for the warning 111, will cause distractions if necessary, forwarding to 85 now" A man from the other end reported.
The rush of sunlight disoriented the five men in the little foxhole, the cover was forcibly removed, by the wind? They weren't sure, but they had to cover themselves before they've been...
"Identify yourselves!" A voice barked at them, but before they could even draw their pistols, the blinded men heard swords unsheathed, faster than they were, they waited for their execution.
"Identify yourselves!" The voice barked again, but the men didn't understand, the damning light made it hard for them to communicate with their eyes.
So maybe it was time for a dialogue?
"E-Wkmetbut?" One of the men said, the German accent making it sound even more difficult to understand or pronounce.
"W-What?" A questioning tone was suddenly raised, this may have given them an opening.
"Take these men in, I want them interviewed after this fight, contact Sir Renault and Lady Kin immediately" The strange voice commanded what the men heard were possibly two more voices, they probably confirmed something.
By the length of the sentence alone, they might have been resigned to Death.
"It's over, see ya'll up there then" One of the men in the hole said to his brother in arms, he smiled at the thought of partying in Valhalla.
"Apprehend these men, they probably can't even speak Runerian" A snap of the fingers and suddenly they heard boots dropping all around them, they were outnumbered from the start, but of course.
They were the loyal men of the Führer, they won't go down without a fight.
Once they heard the clatter of armor nearing them, the men struck.
Instantly grabbing the soldiers while blinded, they aimed their pistols at the helmets of their hostages.
"Oh how the turned....tables" One of the men fumbled the quote, which caused him to redden in shame.
"I won't live this down in Valhalla huh?" He asked his comrades.
"Hell no" He laughed, but after having acquired their hostages, the adrenaline finally wore off, or was it something else entirely?
"Somniatus!" A younger voice called out, everyone in the foxhole dropped, snores were the only thing to come out of their mouths after the spell.
"Great work on that Somniatus, Herbert, we'll see what they know now" The officer congratulated him.
"T-Thank you Lady Officer Julie, it is an honor!" The young caster saluted.
Main Operating Base "Eden" 1945 AD, 10:30
Kommandozentrum 'Eden' (Command Center Eden)
Alarm bells were ringing all over the place, everyone ran around fulfilling their duties in panic.
"Has everyone arrived Helmine?" I asked.
"Yes, Mein Führer, everyone is here." She affirmed.
"Good, ok let's start then, report, Officer Hugh" The man of the hour stood up, his face flustered from running all the way here.
"At around 8:20 AM, Post 114 reported to Post 51 about a native force leaving the Castle Town of Juropolis, our recon suggests that this was a force that appeared out of nowhere, we have posts stretching the entire mountain range that is still covered in the forest, letting us see beyond Juropolis, but no movement was spotted until the last second." Several gasps were heard around.
"You suggest they teleport then?" I asked for confirmation.
"It is quite possible, y-yes, Mein Führer" He confirmed.
"Has the Agency confirmed this?" I asked Hardwin.
"Yes, our operatives have confirmed that this force appeared just a few hours before they could report to us, we fear that other countries within this continent, who may border the forest, will be emboldened to venture through the forest too, though we haven't had contact with any sort so far." He finished, taking a seat to relax after giving his report.
"Well, have the observation posts report on their status again, make them report every thirty minutes" But just as I was finished, the double doors swung open, letting out the cool air from the air-conditioning.
"M-Mein Führer, Post 111 has been lost, confirmed by Post 90, 112, 113 and 114." Several gasps of shock were heard, but I refused to believe it.
"C-contact them again, send in search parties for the personnel" I ordered the officer who barged in.
A simple Heil and salute was given before she left the room.
"Mein Führer, you should try the smartphone, they may be able to show up" one of the men suggested, but before I could answer, Helmine spoke.
"There's a little over a five hundred thousand active personnel, in all sorts of jobs like cleaning, surveying, construction, it will take months for us to find the right observation post, and we can't afford months" She explained.
"And it will only alert me if troops are under attack, I haven't recieved any notification for that yet" I added to Helmine's explanation.
The room fell silent, I continued to find a way to search for the missing soldiers, I hoped that I'd find them some day.
"Should we send recon planes? Maybe the natives will be startled and retreat, no?" An officer suggests.
"We can try, but we don't know the full capabilities of their magic, they might down it if it's too noisy" Another officer argued.
"What about sending the dogs? Remove any markings that associates them with us and sniff their trail?" Another man suggested, this time it caused a bit of intrigue.
"That just might work, actually," I nodded.
"So we'll train a dog squad and release them in the hopes of tracking the missing men, right?" I clarified, receiving confirmation from everyone in the room I tapped on the barracks of an outpost that was closest to the observation posts towards Juropolis. I trained two squads of dog handlers, then ordered them to release the hounds.
I navigated through the world map with the dogs selected and tapped on the last line of trees before the clearing of the forest and Juropolis.
But now that I was here, I absolutely forgot about this feature...
"We actually don't need to release the dogs... I found them already." Everyone suddenly looked at me. Helmine, who was by my side the entire time, saw everything happen.
I zoomed in on the blob of men who revealed the fog of war; this feature is overpowered as fuck.
The men were sadly unconscious but not yet dead, so I was able to see what looked like a camp just a few feet away from the vicinity of the men who were carried by carriage.
"The natives have already setup camp within the forest," I reported, causing the officers to become restless at the possibility of the operation being revealed to the entire world.
I then tapped on one of the men, and there it revealed he was full health—his profile, arsenal, inventory and clothes, The natives took their weapons, it seems, they've been patted down thoroughly, everything that looked like a weapon was confiscated.
This was really bad news because that meant the natives have a basic understanding of gunpowder and guns.
"How's the natives in terms of gun tech, Hardwin?" I asked him.
"W-We haven't been able to tell yet, but judging from your face, Mein Führer, they have some knowledge of them?" I nodded.
"Ah shit." Multiple murmurs and grunts were made; this realization hit us hard. To know that they have guns or a knowledge of guns was incredibly distressing to the operation, but I wonder if there is even a point of making guns if they have magic already.
For now I observed the situation, Helmine reported everything she can see and tell to the rest of the people in the room to keep them updated.
Then the men were taken inside of a pretty large tent, I looked at Helmine, worried for the men.
I couldn't see from above because the large medieval tent was blocking the top-down view, so I decided to send in the dogs all over the camp site, they blended in perfectly with the surroundings, the native soldiers even fed some of the dogs who stood idle.
Demon Forest, 1944 AD
Base Camp of the 102nd Expeditionary Force
"Such strange attire, do you think they are mercenaries, Sir Renault?" The figure of a robed man asked a larger man who sat on a makeshift throne of wood and cotton.
I slowly came too, hearing the chatter of strange people in strange clothes that reminded me of medieval European armor from a museum, I could tell I wasn't home anymore.
"State your name and age, barbarian!" The robed man yelled, I didn't know if it was some sort of command or what, but I guess he wasn't friendly.
After a long minute of silence, the robed man grew frustrated, He held out some sort of lamp, fog or smoke oozed out of its holes and dropped to the floor, it spread all over the ground.
"This should calm your mind; now obey my order!" I stared at the man.
"What is your name and age!" He yelled, but I was as straight-faced as ever.
The robed man urged me to do something, blowing the smoke to me for some reason, and told me orders in a strange language.
I felt nothing; however, whatever this gross man did wasn't working, or I think it isn't.
"I'll just look into this idiot's mind then." The robed man took out a stick in front of everyone. The fuck was that for?
But before I knew it, he stuck the tip of the thing on the side of my head, chanting something.
"Legilimens Cognosco!" My body felt numb; I couldn't feel anything as the robed man kept his stick on my head.
"I SEE IT! I SEE A CASTLE!" The fucking dude was screaming at the top of his lungs next to my ear. I don't know what was happening, but the people around me were getting more and more excited as the robed man kept yapping.
"THERE IS A YOUNG MAN! HE RULES A GRAND ARMY OF MEN AND IRON BEASTS!" The giant sat on the throne etched closer to me. I could feel something was wrong...
I decided to move my head, shaking it frantically away from the robed weirdo.
"AH! YOU FUCKING BARBARIAN!" He said, viciously, full of spite, anger and annoyance, but it was mostly anger.
Shaking and shaking frantically made them stop for a second.
"Agh!" The fucker lunged at me all of a sudden; he reeled in punch after punch to my face. Multiple guards tried stopping him, but the gigantic man stopped them with a raise of his palm.
"Continue the barbarians punishment!" He said something, which caused the fucker to keep punching; the face, the shoulders, arms, and my belly weren't safe from this onslaught.
I heaved, hoping to find rest for this torture.
"What should I do with the barbarian, my liege?" The robed man kneeled to the gigantic man.
"Execute him by fire, he has served his purpose already, prepare the other barbarians" He ordered something.
It felt gloomy, everywhere I turned, men around me giggled, the only one who was bored was the fucker on that throne.
"One less waste of space, eat shit servant of the Demon Lord" I couldn't tell what was happening, only that the robed man stepped away a few paces, turned around theatrically.
Then slowly, he aimed his wand dead center...
Ah shit..
"IGNIS FLAMMA!" Bathed in fire in one second after that spell, I couldn't feel anything else but the burning sensation all around my body, I screamed so loud that my vocal chords broke, I wrestled against the chair that held me captive, trying to put out as much fire as I could.
I was burnt, the searing hot pain dove right into my skin, holes opened to let the fire seep in me, evaporating my liquids, I collapse in a single ten seconds.
"Ignis flamma"
Main Operating Base "Eden" 1945 AD,
11:10
Kommandozentrum 'Eden' (Command Center Eden)
I couldn't bear to watch, but I had too, I took control of the soldier known as Obersoldat Horbert Neumann, I wanted to see who the leader of this force was, to know if he was friendly with us or not.
Well it looks like we have our answer.
"They spoke Latin..." Helmine commented, I was confused by that, still stuck on the death of a single soldier.
"What do you mean?" I decided to ask.
"Their spells are based off of Latin, they have a mixture of Latin in their language, or maybe it was just unique to their sorcery?" She reasoned.
I couldn't stay stuck on the past, this force has knowingly taken out a soldier of mine, a citizen of mine. I wasn't going to let it slide.
"What did you catch, Helmine?" I asked.
"Well, I caught Ignis Flamma or Fire Flame, I'm unsure whether this is on-purpose but based off of the footage Obersoldat Horbert had sacrificed, Latin words make an impact on the type of effect those sticks output" Helmine reasoned, gesticulating to everyone as she pointed a pencil, the sharpened end was pointed at a random man in the corner of the room.
"So let's say this is the Medium of the magic, everything is a mystery right now so just think of this impromptu demonstration as a way to rationalize things from our perspective" She said.
Everyone's eyes were on her, the center of attention.
"The input command was Ignis Flamma, which in German means Fire Flame, The Medium processes the command, which is to fire a flame; the command is then outputted from the base of the wand to the tip of it, thus expelling a flame." She ends there, a few hands were raised.
"What about the severity of the flame? Does that have anything to do with the medium or the intonation?" One of the many officers asked Helmine, to which she responded with
"I am unsure; this could be in part of the power of the medium to execute the command or the power of the intonation; maybe the user has some underlying power making both previous statements invalid." We just didn't know enough to make the case; we need to acquire evidence.
"Those were my observations so far; we can only do so much with the footage provided by the sacrifice of Obersoldat Horbert." She turns to me, who has been silent so far.
"Mein Führer, we need to know how it is possible that they have such power," she says solemnly.
"I propose the establishment of a Paranormal Research Division under the guidance and wisdom of the Führer." I paused, now everyone's eyes were laid on me, a few seconds pass as they waited my answer.
A second after Helmine proposed that, my phone buzzed, I took a look at the notification bar in surprise.
I read out what it said in my head.
'Congratulations on unlocking the hidden department: Paranormal Department!' Confetti was flung everywhere across the screen once I tapped on it.
"I approve of it" Helmine nods, getting straight to business.
The rescue of the captured soldiers.
Demon Forest, 1613 AD
Base Camp of the 102nd Expeditionary Force
"It's most peculiar, truly." The creepy robed guy commented, as he placed the tip of the wand inside of a small glass bottle.
He opened his mouth, muttering the spell "Liquor Memoriae" the bottle filled up a clear thick liquid from the wand.
Most of the people around me felt uncomfortable, seeing the creep pour the memories of a human into a dingy little bottle in front of all of us, this continued for a while until someone slammed his plated hands on the war table, a large smack on wood echoed throughout the encampment "Can you show restraint, Damned Half-man!" He shouted.
"Oh, I am sorry Sir Rompus, but Sir Renault has ordered me to compile the first barbarian's memories as soon as possible to deliver back to the capital" The other said, he left a little bit of toxin in his words, which might've caused a nerve to snap.
"Shut the fuck up." A pathetic comeback from a knight of Master Renault.
I shook my head in dismay.
"Stop that Sir Kordt, just because your the favorite doesn't mean you can just hop on the camp defending Sir Renault, you fucking lapdog"
"Well I would, if a man who's barely distinguishable to a dog would calm himself; your nasty barking has totally soured the mood more." I played it off, and I still can't believe I lost to this barbarian, so uncouth.
"W-Well, let's just get back on the topic at hand while Lord Renault and Lady Kin and her disciples aren't here yet, okay?" The more modest Ma'am Shina told the both of us off, in her own language of course.
Rompus grunts down, slouching on his chair like a little kid, a disgrace against Master Renault, the man-dog-child is.
"So, what's happening to the barbarians these days? Did the promises of treasure really allow such lowlives to buy guns AND tons of ammo for it?" Rompus decided to start off the conversation, a question was raised which I felt was suited for the halfman to answer.
"I am curious too, please indulge us, half-man." I leaned forward a bit after announcing my curiosity.
"Well I haven't gotten a good look into the noggins of the bastard, the barbarian moved his head before I could see more into its pitiful life." We were saddened, but the thing said something interesting.
"I did see what looked like the leader of this bunch, and there's a whole lotta them, they even have iron beasts like the ones from the Empire." I was deeply surprised. Rompus could barely lift up his mouth, and Shina trembled.
"A-Are we going up against the fucking Empire?!?!?!" Rompus exclaimed, shaking the half-man frantically.
"STOP THAT YOU IDIOT HUMAN! AND NO!..... I think" We were royally screwed.
"Ah shit shit shit shit! SHIT!" Rompus had probably the most realistic reaction, this was the Empire after all, the only thing that kept us away from that land hungry nation was the demon forest, but now that the half-man says that the Empire has deployed barbarians with guns and Iron beasts, were we truly over?
"Um... We can ask for forgiveness right?" Shina asked the half-man innocently, which was met with sad eyes.
"At least we've captured four of their men, as long as we extract as much information from them as possible, we might be able to counter them" I reasoned with everyone.
"Counter who?" A deep husky voice penetrated our ears, those who've trained under him were traumatized by the giant that was barely a human, his gigantic physique made him stand out even on the battlefield.
Rompus calmed down, he was as still as a tree, well all of us were.
For the tutor was here.
"Sir Renault, I hope the travel to and from 103rds camp was pleasant." I was the first to greet him.
"It's fine, ladies first then." And in came the drop dead gorgeous Lady Kin, those who saw her were stunned by the beauty of a human, some say she had a pure heart in ancient times, which allowed her to reincarnate into what her soul and heart were like personified.
I believed the rumors as well.
"Greetings, Lady Kin" We bowed in respect.
"Rest easy, Disciples of Sir Renault, we are here as friends first remember?" She chuckled softly, her nice, warm voice echoed within us, who couldn't help but love the gentleness of Lady Kin.
Three more people poured into the tent, they have been our sparring mates in the past, but its nice to see them every now and then, especially because we live so far away from each other.
"It's great to see you, Ma'am Jules, Ma'am Amaranthey and Sir Lutius" We shook hands with our counters.
Once everyone was seated, Master Renault clapped his hands together.
"Let's begin the meeting now then" He proclaimed.
"Here are the memories of the first one, My Lord and My Lady, Sirs and Ma'ams" The half-man passed everyone two bottles each, the icky clear liquid makes me gulp every time I have to take this.
Ugh, let's get this over with, shall we...
We all eyed the bottles, mentally preparing ourselves for the worse, the half-man clasped his hands after making sure everyone had their share.
These bottles were categorized by color; there was a blue bottle and a red bottle.
"Please drink the red bottle." The raspy voice of the half-man was unpleasant, but he was more knowledgeable in these sorts of things, this damned scholar.
Tension loomed as everyone slowly placed their lips on the mouth of the bottle, the half-man watched carefully.
"Ugh" I looked over to the source of the voice; the feminine moan came from Lady Kin, dumping the liquid straight down to her mouth, its last drops slowly coming loose to be catched by the Iron Lady.
Everyone dawdled for a bit, watching the first victim. She held her head with two hands; in agony, she screamed, then BANG! BANG! Her pretty head made contact with the wood, causing dents into its exterior.
This lasted for about ten seconds, but she overcame it.
Her expression was one of worry, she who was usually so composed, looked at everyone with fear.
"Tell the King."