The Systemic Lands

Chapter 188: Day 403 – Assault On Truth

I sat in a chair at the command post in base camp in the very early dawn. The sun wasn’t even out yet. While we weren’t able to confirm the skill users were inside Truth, the Union teams had been contacted and were already scouting in force.

Our command post, was to the Southeast. It consisted of all our carts and our fall back position in the event one of the teams was overrun. Communication would go through here. I had watched the practice sessions the General had done every evening and it only took a bit of work to get the entire process set up.

They were probably doing something similar in Purgatory. The huge advantage of summons was being able to scout, with little risk. The golem tracked me through the summon and tether, but that was level 4. I wasn’t too worried about that kind of stuff in a large deployment like this.

Several wolf summons were lined up to one side of the table. General Gerald was standing at the other side of the table. One wolf laid down. That meant the team was in position. The General put a marker on the roughly drawn map in front of him.

Another wolf lay down. Next team in position at a gate. Half an hour later the final wolf lay down. All three teams were in position, covering the South, West, East, and North gates of the city. The General turned towards me.

“Champion Michael, all teams are in position to start the blockade at the gates. We can enter the city at your leisure and purge the city,” the General said. I nodded and stood up. It was nice being the boss, so I had a chair to sit in while the maneuvers occurred.

“Commence the operation at your discretion,” I said. The General nodded and went over to each wolf. The summoners had a hard time understanding sound. It was amazing how far the Ritualist went, compared to how useless some of these other summoners were at their primary job.

The General covered up the right eye of each wolf one at a time and ordered each force to blockade the gates. He skipped the South wolf and went to the fast reaction force wolf. He covered up its right eye. “Deploy into the city, all clear. Deploy into the city, all clear,” he repeated himself twice like he had with the previous wolves.

He then stood back up and went around to his previous position at the table. He moved the wood markers at each gate and laid them across the city entrances. He put a fifth marker on path towards the plaza.

“Surprised you didn’t want me with them?” I asked.

“You are faster and more capable. They would just slow you down. Better to be here to intercept the skill users if they try to run South or East,” the General replied while keeping an eye on the wolves.

“Also surprised, you don’t have a summoner here,” I said.

“I do actually.” The General gestured at a man behind the wolves. “I am not an idiot. But it slows things down too much using pre-arranged orders both ways. I need to be able to deliver more complex communications. It will be rare for the other teams to.”

“Then why not have your summoner report on the team’s condition I asked?”

“He can, which is why he is monitoring what he is sensing to what is being reported. But it is a backup. We don’t know enough about summoning, that I want two lines of communication open. What if control of a summon is usurped? That would be disastrous without a second line monitoring things,” the General replied.

That was impressive. He was clearly using this as the test it was meant to be for the Ritualist. Being General in Purgatory meant actually commanding, not just raking in crystals. I am glad Gerold seemed to understand that.

The wolves began to get to their feet one by one. “The city is officially blockaded at all gates. No response yet. Status of the fast response team?” Gerold asked his summoner.

“No people and moving quickly towards the plaza. No signs of opposing tethers,” the nearby summoner replied. I sat back down. Things were back to waiting again. I was never in the military, but I knew the phrase hurry up and wait.

It seemed quite relevant here as we waited and waited. The wolf for the fast response team lay down. “Status of the fast response team?” Gerold asked.

“Encountering non and low level combatants. Most appear to be starving. Request confirmation of standing orders?” the summoner asked, conveying the message from the team headed towards the plaza.

“Champion Michael, your opinion?”

“Kill everyone. We already discussed this. They are adept at hiding among the populace. We can’t take that risk,” I said. The General nodded and went over to the wolf lying down.

“Execute standing orders, execute standing orders. No exceptions. No exceptions,” the General ordered. The wolf got back to its feet as he went back to his position on the other side of the table.

The North wolf suddenly began to growl. “Status, North team,” the General asked. The summoner hesitated for a moment before replying.

“Low level combatants attempting to leave the city. No heavy resistance. North gate is holding,” the summoner conveyed the message.

The General went over to the wolf that was growling and covered its right eye before speaking to it. “Hold, hold, hold.”

The wolf stopped growling and the General went back to his position. Soon all gates were being pressured by civilians, but no skill users. Another hour passed. The fast response team had reached the plaza, but no sign of enemy skill users.

“Champion Michael, it appears that the enemy skill users are either in hiding or are not present. Continue the purge?” General Gerold asked.

“Yes. You want to deploy forces from the gates into the city?” I asked.

“I am considering it but will hold off for now. Wait for a few hours as the plaza erupts into chaos and the fast response team hunts people down. That should force the enemy to react, either by engaging them or attempting to retreat. Better to not leave a gate in a bad position by moving them into the city and away from the chokepoint,” the General answered.

The waiting continued with the occasional message back and forth. The fast reaction team was sweeping all the buildings near the plaza and killing everyone. Pockets of people were found and killed. I suspected there was another reason the General wanted me here and not in the city.

He wanted to blood his troops. To get them used to killing and flush out people with mentalities not suited for their job. Having me back at the command post as a threat, was more useful than me being there, forced to kill the soldiers of the RMPF.

I suspected Clarissa might have had a hand in that decision. It seemed like a Clarissa decision. Still, I wasn’t going to press things. This was just as much practice for the General as it was for his men in a new type of warfare.

While I was strong, I was a nuclear deterrent. A wrecking ball to apply to any and all opposition. Having me move in or loom over people was counter productive at the start. I wasn’t completely convinced, but there had to be a reason in all the stories I had read, the big threats hung back.

I suspected it was to gain knowledge on their opponents. To let them make the first move in the open and then counter immediately to crush them. If I was already deployed, then the enemy could just avoid me once they knew where I was.

I moved too fast to communicate easily with the various teams. I really was like a nuclear missile. I could be easily launched, but not returned. And I would blow away anything in my path. Well, more like melt them, which was just as bad.

“Champion Michael, any thoughts on where they might have run to?” General Gerold asked during a calm period with no messages being exchanged.

“Either North through the swamps. West along the void. There is a small gap between the swamp and the void at the Southwest. Finally, there is East towards Heaven,” I replied.

“Well North makes it not our problem. Same with Southwest. You think the Ritualist would team up with them?” General Gerold asked.

“It is a possibility. Maybe. Depends on how concerned he is about Purgatory and how much personal power he has accumulated. I suspect he will say yes, and then use them in some experiment. It isn’t a simple question. While both groups hate us, that doesn’t make them allies,” I said.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend. They have no need to fight,” the General countered.

“Perhaps. It is complicated and the Ritualist is even more so,” I said with my thoughts going to Naran. I hoped he was okay. I was wondering if he was running for his life or sitting down with a werewolf to tea discussing trade deals.

Either way, there was nothing I could do right now. More messages came in, but no group of skill users. Enough time had passed I was curious when the General would make his next move.

“Champion Michael. I am thinking of only deploying the South gate into the city. We are the closest to them. Try and lure the enemy out in that direction,” General Gerold said.

“What is the problem?” I asked.

“Operational length. People will get tired if we stretch this battle out too long. But deploying all gates allows the enemy to escape any gate, which might let them get away.”

“That is fine. They can’t outpace me before the reset at midnight, and better to chase them when there is light out,” I said.

“Very well. I will issue orders to all teams guarding the gates to deploy into the city in force,” the General replied. He began issuing those orders. I was glad he was asking for my opinion. Well, I was his boss and his nuclear weapon.

Always good to get the opinion of your nuclear weapon before using it. I waited for the enemy skill users. This was incredibly boring. I shook my head. Here I was sitting in the command tent, and all the soldiers probably thought this was the most interesting place to be.

Instead, it was boring for me, just sitting around being ready to move at a moment’s notice. I let out a small sigh as I waited. At least in Real Time Strategy, RTS, games, there would be more of a map to look at.

Next time I would summon monsters of my own and use them to make my own judgements. Otherwise this was too boring just sitting around. Just when I was about to start trying to get the materials to do a summoning report came in from the North gate and the summoner spoke up as the wolf began to growl.

“High priority. Skill users North gate. Six count. Falling back to gate,” the summoner said. I stood up. Finally, some action.

“Champion Michael, if you could head to the North gate to assist?” The General couldn’t order me, but he could request and it was appropriate in this situation, so I didn’t mind.

“Very well,” I left the ring of carts and began running North. I soon reached the wall and followed the clear space next to it. This way I wouldn’t run into any level 1 monsters and quickly make time.

I had no doubt the General was ordering his forces to move North or at least the fast reaction force. The other teams would retreat to the gates they were guarding to prevent a breakout from another direction.