Chapter 3 - He who believes in romance

The Stéle marched on towards the formation. While the cadence was similar to that of quad-pedal hunting beasts, the steps resounded with much more weight.

“Brace!”

To Cestela’s surprise, the self-proclaimed Rising Star of the North commanded the formation, a position usually reserved for at least those of the rank captain. The golden retriever stood his ground at the forefront most quadrant probably an attempt to offer a presence of leadership, Cestela surmised. He likely wanted to take the first attack.

However, wolf-class Stéle operate much like those they imitate. The pack of stone beasts broke right and began circling the Defenders like clockwork. They numbered almost triple the amount of knights.

“Tch.” With enemies and allies where she couldn’t see, Cestela couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous.

“Hold!” Despite the unprecedented situation, Second Lieutenant Garde reassured his comrades and began channeling mana into his iron shield. Cestela noticed that the other knights were also channeling mana but at a slower, less showy rate. The eyeless faces of the Stéle turned towards the highest accumulation of power and in that moment- “Now!”

At that command, all the Defenders forsook their namesake and all dashed forward with their mana charged weapon and attacked the closest beasts. About half met their mark shattering the Stéle but-

“You idiots!”

Stepping out from formation left gaps between them, wolf-class Stéle were smaller opponents with no real threat to the iron wall unless accompanied by other class Stéle, but they were smart. And this was no exception. Three of the beasts seized the opportunity and leapt towards the least armored member of the formation – The Supporter.

Cestela quickly turned her head to count the number of encroaching enemies. She could easily stop three… but only if they were all directly in front of her. No matter which way she looked, one was in her blind spot. Restraining Stéle was possible for her but due to their lack of muscles and nerves, it required more brute force mana and extensive concentration to fully lock their limbs. In short, she had to ditch that option. Instead, she quickly weaved a net with her golden threads around her and hardened them with mana. It was a strictly defensive maneuver and one she was unfamiliar with so she did not know how small she could afford the holes nor how much mana would need to be charged. One would conclude that she would simply go overboard with her mana. But Cestela has always been one for efficiency.

She wove the net weakly such that when the beasts ran into them, the feedback was immediate. With a snap of her finger, the net unraveled from around her and around the three beasts holding them in place. Luckily, some of the knights had double-backed and struck the captured Stéle.

“AH!”

Cestela’s exchange was a short instance, but instances was still a measure of time. After the knights’ reckless offensive maneuver, the wolves sought more than the Supporter. Using their number advantage, one of the knights lost his armguard to the fangs of one of the Stéle and then his arm to another. The petrification was climbing his forearm until the Puppeteer reclaimed it. But her healing wasn’t instant and she could not do the same defensive maneuver while healing another.

“That was stupid, you golden mutt!”

“Hold for the support!”

It was annoying, but the second lieutenant somewhat knew what he was doing. The enemy circle had thinned to about a third of its size in the exchange but, as Cestela looked around, four of the knights had lost either an armguard or shin guard and one had lost their weapons holding up their iron gloves in preparation. It was lucky that only one had received a fatal attack.

“AH!”

“Oh, stop your screaming! I’m done already!”

“Now!”

“What!?”

But nothing happened. The leader of the formation had yelled an order but no one flinched… including the enemy. He even had the gall to smirk. The only one who seemed confused was Cestela.

For a moment, the repeated pounding of stone claws into dirt was all that could be heard. Once more, Solyon quickly and vibrantly charged up his mana into his shield giving off a golden glow. The wolf-class Stéle turned towards him once more but only briefly. Even without eyes, Cestela knew they wouldn’t fall for the distraction a second ti-

Whack!

Solyon leapt forward and smacked one of the Stéle with his mana-hardened shield. The beast cracked into pieces before crumbling into dust. Just as Cestela paid no attention to the distraction the second time, neither did the Stéle and the Rising Star fought for his namesake. At the same time, the other knights took the opportunity to strike during the commotion of their leader’s attack. Cestela silently cursed why no one briefed her on the formation and began weaving threads around those missing guards replacing them with a cocoon of golden silk. While crude, it was enough to stop the counter-attack.

“IT GOT ME! I NEED HELP!”

The unarmed knight had attempted to fight the fangs of the Stéle directly and the stone teeth found its way puncturing the softer parts of his hand guards. Per protocol, he quickly activated the quick release of his upper arm guard and his neighboring fellow knight quickly detached the rotting limb from him with their polearm.

‘Not bad,’ Cestela thought to herself as she flicked her left pinky casting threads towards the man’s shoulder. She pulled him from the formation and, despite the lack of practice, the hole was closed up by the Defenders shrinking their circle. However, as mentioned before, the pain of a wolf bite and petrification was nothing of that of the Puppeteer’s cursed healing and the knight made clear the pain as he violently emptied his lungs. Cestela silently judged him.

“Snake!” one of the knights shouted pointing towards the thicket. Slithering between the brown bark trees was a flash of moving white. It was not hard to miss. Children growing up in Dernier commonly confuse snake-class Stéle to be of small stature, but that was not the case. In diameter alone, they rival a fully grown man.

“Hey, Golden Boy! I need time to heal!”

“Understood!”

Cestela could throw the injured knight out of harm’s way; however, then he would be out of her range to heal and for snake-class Stéle, they would need as many bodies as possible. Luckily, the Defenders assembled into a phalanx position against the mock reptile and gathered as much mana into their armor. Such a formation normally requires a strong individual at the front to redirect the enemy against the phalanx, but the freshly graduated rookie took the front.

The snake-class Stéle’s lifeless eye sockets were glued to the shiny formation. Their stone fangs were ready to bite into the formation and its tongue ready to pierce armor. Cestela had noted Solyon’s higher than average mana capabilities, but she didn’t trust him. Once the Stéle entered her range, she used her free hand of threads to wrap around its mouth and force it shut. It was the most she could do while in the middle of healing, but it was enough.

Solyon didn’t miss the opportunity and slammed his shield into the side of the snake’s head as it approached, launching its momentum to the right. The knights behind him braced against the hide of the stone beast. Snake-class Stéle had an odd movement of maintaining momentum so the beast continued following its path against them. However, the skin of snake-class Stéle was incredibly jagged and rough and ate away slowly at the iron of the Defender’s gear. As the Stéle finally had room to navigate itself, it began turning around to attack the back of formation where Cestela was unguarded.

“Major!”

“Stop! You idiot!”

Solyon had learned in the academy the attack pattern of snake-class Stéle. While large and faster than giant-class Stéle, it was predictable in its movement due to its necessity to maintain forward momentum. But… part of that attack pattern included its tail.

“AHH!”

With his back turned towards the massive stone whip, Solyon took the full brunt of the tail with no mana charged into his defense. The sight of their leader’s armor shattering clearly shook the others.

“Formation!”

Cestela’s order was met with no action. While outside of battle, that much was expected; however, the Major had hope there was some spirit in battle.

“You worthless-“

Luckily, she had finished healing the injured knight’s arm and had mana reserve to cast her threads to all of the Defenders.

-“What?” “Oh, no!” “PLEASE STOP!”

“Cry all you want, you made me do this.”

Flexing her title, the Puppeteer forced the Defenders into formation with their arms bracing for impact regardless of their intentions, emotions, or feelings. Cestela took the front position this time.

The snake-class repeated its charge with no thought of changing strategy – such was the simple minded snake-class unlike the wolf-class…

Cestela turned. Remnants of the wolf-class were regathering after being disrupted by their reptilian brother. The Defenders were tunnel-visioned on the rampaging behemoth and their eyes were filled with fear than conviction. Handling this many puppets without healing was easy for Cestela; however, she could not effectively fight off enemies behind her as well especially those as fast and smart as wolf-class Stéle.

“This is why Supporters should be in the back!”

“I got this!”

To her surprise, the Rising Star of the North had flanked the snake’s path and stormed forward with a massive mana blade in hand. A textbook flank abusing the snake-class inability for immediate turns. Cestela turned around alongside her puppets. She gauged that she only had one front to worry about. However, it wasn’t simple. The wolves had surrounded the Defenders in the meantime.

That’s when Cestela had an idea. She has always been quick-witted in her vulgar speech and on the battlefield. The inspiration stemmed from her make-shift net of threads to pinpoint enemies. Why wouldn’t that work with these stupid knights? She forced them into a loose circle around her to draw the enemies closer. For those Defenders in her blind spots, she weakened her threads to allow them to move. She had to trust in their fight-or-flight instincts.

“AHH! SAVE ME!”

But mostly flight. Their screams notified Cestela of an incoming attack and she quickly twirled in place being careful not to cross her golden strings. Cestela’s first weapon of choice was threads. She never bothered picking up a sword, polearm, or hammer like traditional knights. When asked, she explained, “But I’m a Supporter.” But abilities doesn’t lock when titles are chosen.

While screaming in fear of both being unable to move themselves and the incoming sharp teeth of the Stéle, the Defenders suddenly showcased absurd mastery. One knight blocked the tackle of one of the wolf with his shield and threw it towards another who was already mid-swing with their hammer. Another knight swung with their sword missing the enemy due to them jumping to the side but a polearm was already striking straight towards their landing. The unarmed knight accurately and safely gripped the mouth of another wolf. Golden threads were wrapped around his newly grown hand. Once restrained, the wolf was easily defeated. This continued until all of the Stéle was defeated including the snake whose detached head was crumbling to dust.

But Cestela’s work wasn’t done yet. Lying defeated with the snake-class Stéle was Second Lieutenant Solyon Garde. The Puppeteer released her minions to their relief and attached onto the last patient.

Multiple broken ribs, one collapsed lung, damage on the upper spine, but still alive. The shattering of his upper armor actually made it easier for Cestela to work.

“Haha… You’re amazing, Major.”

She kicked him.

“Ow, that hurts.”

“That hurts?” Cestela had already been healing him for a while. Spine damage, in particular, was incredibly painful to heal. “You masochist.”

“Me?!”

“And an idiot. That was too much work. Just stick with hugging the wall.”

“But look at it.” Despite the amount of effort it likely took to switch which side of his head was lying on the ground, Solyon turned towards Dernier. “No damages.”

“No new damages.” The Northern Front wall was more aesthetically pleasing to Cestela than the Eastern Front, but it still shared its own fair share of battle scars.

“That much is okay.”