Chapter 163 – First Battle Conclusion

He wreaked havoc for a short while, confident in his protective spell, which easily repelled the few spontaneous attacks thrown at him. When his enemies began to re-organize themselves and the barrage of counter-attacks increased, he slowly retreated. As soon as his sel level ran low, he flew at full speed, not even looking back behind him, a few long-range spells striking his fire armor without effect. Just like that, he was gone, leaving a small zone of misery and death behind him.

I now understood Thuk’s strategy and the reason why they dared confront the two armies head-on. They wanted to use their rank 7 as guerilla, striking where the enemy expected it the least. It was a very reasonable tactic, in my opinion, which made full use of the rank advantage.

An advantage of one rank was far from being invincible, but one normally needed at least ten fighters one rank lower to contend against them, or a hundred that were two ranks lower. His goal was to create massive destruction before the enemy could react, expend as much of his sel as possible, and swiftly escape. By the time the enemy prepared sufficient firepower to counter him, he would be gone already.

He was acting as a strategic asset in the war and it was clear Thuk’s strategists knew what they were doing. Of course, that only equalized the battlefield a little and it was hard to know whether that would be enough to compensate for their lack of numbers.

Still, it was obvious how devastating that surprise attack had been, and this was the reason why the two other countries were so afraid of letting him live. A rank 7 was still manageable but if he somehow managed that rank up once more to rank 8, that would be the end.

At that level, he would be able to fight against a hundred rank 6 by himself. Considering these countries only had a few hundred rank 6 in total, he would be equivalent to something like a fourth or a fifth of a country’s power by himself. That still wouldn’t mean he could win the war but, even if their enemy managed to win, they wouldn’t be able to hold the conquered territory anyway. Just like he would do during a battle, the rank 8 would act as guerrilla, assassinating any enemy found one by one. No one would be able to resist him.

In the worst case, he could even go and directly assassinate the enemy country’s leaders. Unless a queen or king stayed their whole life in an underground cave guarded by hundreds of rank 6, there would always be a moment when they would be vulnerable. In short, it was impossible to conquer a country holding someone two ranks higher than one’s best fighters.

Despite the attack on their back, the front part of the two advancing armies was too far away to notice anything, and they soon arrived in contact with the opposing side. The front line of mages retreated behind the sorcerers, who now charged at their enemies with superb momentum. It was the start of the messy melee combat, where the martial arts and equipment of the participants, including the swords I sold to Makji, would play a critical role.

It was hard to see what was happening in detail from this distance, but I could perceive many small figures surrounding themselves in their sel affinity, throwing all their long years worth of martial training at their enemies. I noticed that Makji sorcerers, who considered themselves elites, were indeed slightly pushing back their Thuk’s opponents. However, it wasn’t a decisive advantage, and the melee lasted for a long time.

Whenever one combatant exhausted their sel reserves, they would retreat behind the friendly lines and another sorcerer would take their place. All in all, it was clear all sides were well-trained, with the rotations and combat formations happening smoothly. This time again, the numbers were in favor of Taifau and Makji, who slowly pushed the enemy lines back.

After around three hours of violent fighting and many deaths, the rank 7 fire mages struck again, once more on Makji’s troops. He gave it his all for a few minutes before leaving another devastated and burned ground behind him.

At that point, Thuk’s strategy became even clearer. Their goal was to inflict great damage on Makji’s army, which had the lower headcount, to force them to retreat, allowing Thuk to take on the remaining Taifau one-on-one. Makji’s generals were not stupid and realized this too. Their response to this was simple. They abandoned any sort of disciplined attacks against their enemy and ordered a full-force charge. They understood that time was against them and chose to end things in one go.

However, things didn’t go as planned. The sly Taifau, who saw an opportunity to reduce their enemy’s, and ally who was also their enemy’s, power by fighting defensively and letting them destroy each other. What came next were a few minutes with heavy casualties on both Makji’s and Thuk’s sides. When Makji’s generals realized Taifau’s ploy, they urgently ordered a full retreat without consulting their ally, this time leaving Taifau alone against Thuk.

Taifau’s leaders saw they were taking losses too and ordered a retreat. The three armies were now separated and didn’t try to attack again for the rest of the day.

Thus ended the first day of battle between the three countries. As expected, Makji’s and Taifau’s alliance was very weak, and I could already imagine both army leaders shouting at one another during the following strategic meeting. However, no matter what, they had no choice but to win this war. Losing it only meant giving enough time for the rank 7 mage to potentially rank up again, which would only mean the end of their country and Thuk’s final victory in the region.

They were fighting for their survival, and, considering Thuk’s advantage in numbers and in having a rank 7, they had no choice but to continue their fragile temporary union.

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