Unexpected Evolution

“Fancy dagger,” Medrauta remarked as she brought her panting steed to a more relaxed canter.

She and Eris had ridden out ahead of their ladies and the troops to scout out the enemy position and possibly engage in a few quick skirmishes to soften up the witchspawn’s forces before rejoining the main army for the real attack. Because of this, the two knights traveled lightly and inconspicuously, wearing drab cloaks over their light armor and bearing plain weapons.

Despite the unspoken dress code, Eris had chosen to bring along a rather flashy looking dagger sheathed in an equally flashy scabbard. Medrauta had no clue what material it was made of, but the dagger’s white hilt shone brightly as the inset ruby pommel refracted the sunlight falling from the sky. The scabbard bore a similar color to the hilt. A vacuous white, Medrauta had thought it carved from bone at first, but its reflective properties hinted at a more metallic origin.

“It has a name.” Eris replied. “Carnwennan.”

“Fancy name too.”

The two knights exchanged a grin as they urged their horses forward, quickening their pace once more after granting them a brief respite. The brief exchange they had was enough to cast out the butterflies in their stomachs, allowing them to shake off the pre-battle nervousness that even the most experienced warrior suffered.

With their steeds accelerating, it didn’t take long for the mountain pass to come into view. The two knights stopped atop a small hill across from the witchspawn garrison, the slight decline of the slope affording them a greater range of vision into the rather populated pass.

“...So that’s the behemoth.” Eris murmured, her eyes fixed on the gargantuan creature that towered far beyond all of its compatriots. Even with her enhanced eyesight, the witchspawn army appeared as little more than a bulbous clump of living darkness at this distance, yet the behemoth was so large that Eris could actually make out some of the creature’s details.

Its entire body was made of the same black mass that the rest of the witchspawn were composed of, writhing and undulating slightly like liquid. Its horned head was pointed forward, its sinister shape resembling that of a beast on the prowl. In its hands, the behemoth wielded two titanic swords forged with obsidian steel that seemed to suck the light out of their surroundings.

Eris couldn’t help but shudder at the sight.

“Think we have a chance against that thing?” She asked.

Medrauta raised an eyebrow, her eyes darting toward Eris’ daggers and lingering on them for a few moments before they fell to her own sword. Both weapons seemed woefully inadequate for the task of felling such a colossal creature.

“Honestly?” Medrauta shook her head with pursed lips. “Probably not. I might be able to make a dent in that thing with Viviane’s help, but using that much power takes a pretty heavy toll on her. It’d risk her collapsing again, and even then we wouldn’t be able to guarantee that the behemoth would be defeated.”

Eris nodded. “Best we play it safe then. I’m sure Lady Scarlet has something up her sleeve, otherwise the troops wouldn’t be marching so boldly forward right now.”

“Let’s hope so.” Medrauta said. “What’re we gonna do now? Still thinking of rushing down there and thinning out their ranks?

Eris considered the question for a moment before shaking her head firmly. Although they had originally intended to reduce the numbers of the defending witchspawn, she and the rest of the command group had evidently underestimated the sheer reach of the behemoth’s weapons. In fact, this was the first time Medrauta had seen them at such a close proximity, and it was clear that a skirmish would be highly disadvantageous for them.

“I think we both know the answer to that. Let’s regroup with the main force and tell them nothing’s changed for now.” Eris said.

“Yeah, let’s—Actually, hold on, Eris.” Medrauta frowned, her steed half-turned. The moment she began preparing to leave, something nestled in the mountain pass had caught her eye. “I wouldn’t be so sure nothing’s changed just yet. Do you see those witchspawn in the rear?”

Eris squinted, focusing on the spot where Medrauta pointed toward, her eyes drawn toward a small ledge tucked high against the sides of the pass. Although it was slightly difficult to make out even with her enhanced vision, she could spot a few strange looking witchspawn perched upon it. Unlike the monsters on the ground that looked like misshapen amalgamations of various predators, the witchspawn on the ledge were tubular in shape and looked almost like cannons meant to be mounted on ships.

While naval strategy wasn’t exactly taught in either the Imperial Academy or Avalyne Academy due to the empire’s landlocked nature, both Medrauta and Eris were familiar with the basic principles thanks to their knowledgeable ladies’ propensity for holing up in libraries whenever they had free time. This made the cannon-shaped witchspawn easily recognizable despite their lack of experience on the sea.

Eris grimaced. “That certainly doesn’t bode well. We should hurry back and warn the troops before we find ourselves eating cannonballs on dry land.”

Medrauta nodded in agreement, prompting Eris to wheel her horse around and begin galloping back where they came. The silver-haired knight quickly followed suit, catching up with Eris in seconds before riding parallel with her.

Eris glanced briefly at Medrauta, noting the contemplative look in her fellow knight’s eyes. She wanted to tell her friend not to worry, but she wasn’t a fan of empty words. After all, she was worried about the unexpected evolution of the witchspawn as well.

While the witchspawn developing ranged attacks weren’t exactly a terrifying prospect, their ability to evolve and quickly adapt when under the control of a Sworn commander was certainly worrisome. Considering the amorphous nature of their bodies, it was quite possible that the commander would be able to change their forms spontaneously, making the behemoth an even more dangerous adversary than it already was.

The horses slid to a stop as they thundered past the marching soldiers, joining up with the command group riding in the rear. Heavy thoughts on their minds, both Medrauta and Eris rapidly explained the situation to their ladies and the officers surrounding them. Unsurprisingly, their words were quickly met by grave expressions.

“This was an unexpected development. We should halt the advance now and restructure the formation.” Scarlet said.

“There’s no need,” Viviane replied. “Based on Medrauta and Eris’ descriptions, I can simply pick them off from a distance. We’ll only need to signal the troops to spread themselves thinly until I’m done.”

Scarlet shook her head, frowning. “You place too much confidence in your abilities, Lady Viviane. While you are no doubt a master archer, I am certain the enemy commander has already anticipated the fact. It would be uncharacteristic of them to so foolishly display their new units without further consideration of your skills.”

“In other words, you think it’s a trap.” Medrauta said.

“Indeed. I believe they will be easily dealt with by Lady Viviane at the beginning to lure us into a false sense of security. Only after we have fully committed to the engagement will the Sworn commander show their true hand.”

“Then what should we do?” Viviane crossed her arms. “Time isn’t exactly on our side, and somehow I have the feeling that waiting until night won’t be a valid tactic this time.”

Scarlet pursed her lips. “There is one solution to our conundrum, and thankfully, it is one that I had planned to utilize in the first place. The witchspawn have garrisoned themselves between two mountains, meaning that we can handily eliminate them should we manage to cause a large enough rockslide. While it won’t be enough to permanently kill them, they should be trapped underneath the rubble and be eliminated nonetheless.”

“There’s one slight problem with that, Lady Scarlet.” Captain Vale, an officer who had been following the conversation since its beginning, only now spoke up. “We didn’t bring any explosives, and the supply unit didn’t supply any either. This wasn’t meant to be a siege, so none of us thought to requisition any.”

“We won’t need explosives.” Scarlet replied, staring straight at Medrauta and Viviane. “The blast that wiped out the witchspawn army three days ago should suffice.”

“Yeah, uh, about that, Lady Scarlet. It’s not something we can—”

“Got it.” Viviane interrupted before Medrauta could finish. The knight looked at her with a mixture of surprise and concern, preparing to protest until Viviane met Medrauta’s gaze with a look of fierce determination. “If that’s what we’re planning to do, then we’ll do our best to make it happen, Lady Scarlet. But there’s still one problem.”

“And what might that be, Lady Viviane?”

“The cannonspawn. If I’m not there to deal with them, who will?”

“Cannonspawn?” Captain Vale asked.

“The ranged witchspawn.” Viviane explained. “But that’s kind of a mouthful, isn’t it? Anyway, based on our knights’ descriptions, the cannonspawn are tucked far and away where our soldiers can’t reach them. I’m the only one who can shoot them down, and I won’t be able to do that if I’m off trying to start rockslides with Medrauta.”

At this, Scarlet had no choice but to pause. It was true that triggering a massive rockslide would likely entrap the witchspawn in their fortified position and allow the human army to simply cross above them, but that plan had been made before the discovery of the cannonspawn. With the emergence of this new witchspawn type, Viviane’s presence was vital to return fire and neutralize the advantage that the cannonspawn brought to the battlefield.

Normally, Scarlet would’ve simply prioritized the rockslide and opted to deal with the ranged bombardment using heavy tower shields that each soldier carried, but that wasn’t an option here.

Not when they still hadn’t factored the behemoth’s presence into their plan. Should the soldiers sacrifice their mobility and attempt to maintain a tortoise formation, the behemoth would simply carve through them relentlessly. As Scarlet stewed on her thoughts, Eris suddenly offered a ridiculous suggestion.

“Just leave both the witchspawn and the behemoth to me.” Eris said. “Distance won’t be an issue if I’m bearing your Crest, Lady Scarlet. As for the behemoth... I’ll have Carnwennan. You gave it to me for this very purpose, did you not?”

“That I did, but such a proposition is far too dangerous, Eris. I won’t have you placing yourself in such a perilous situation merely to fulfill my ideal situation. We will simply advance as planned and push through just as we always have, rockslides be damned.”

Medrauta couldn’t help but laugh. “War itself is already dangerous, Lady Scarlet. If Eris believes she can handle the behemoth on her own, then I’ll place my faith in her.”

Scarlet’s gaze flickered toward Viviane, seeking an ally in her fellow noblewoman. It was clear she had no wish to place her knight in such a precarious position, but to Scarlet’s surprise, Viviane shook her head slowly but firmly.

“I trust my knight’s judgment, so you should trust yours as well, Lady Scarlet.” Viviane said, offering Eris a nod. The confidence in the knight’s posture was more than enough to earn her trust.

“...Very well.” Scarlet finally spoke after several prolonged minutes of silence and holding Eris’ gaze. She sighed, confirming the determination in her knight’s emerald eyes one final time before issuing her orders. “Medrauta, Viviane. I entrust the rockslide to you. As for the rest of us, let us continue to march forward to victory!”

“To victory!”

The echoed cry faded into the sky as Medrauta and Viviane broke from the main unit, racing toward the uncertain future they sought to make reality.