Year 2: The Encroaching Dread - Chapter 3

From the mountaintop outpost the giants had constructed, David could clearly see The Dragon’s Mouth fortress in the distance, capable of withstanding any invasion force he could throw at them.

Five miles away, sat in full armour, minus his helm, at a metal table with Jorōgumo sat beside him, he watched the fortress and its defenders, though the Alliance forces has no idea David was there, observing them as an undead host marched through the valleys beneath them. At the head were five giants, two of which were carrying large bows and quivers of arrows while the other three had bags of rocks and gigantic stones.

One hundred thousand skeletons, half armed and armoured, marched in formation behind the giants, untiring and without fear. There were horse-sized spiders at their flanks ridden by Goblins, a new test force for David to unleash upon his enemies.

Ölvaldi, the chieftain of the giants, was at the very head of the army; his expression, according to Abaddon, had been vacant ever since the demon general butchered his son in the subjugation mission.

David didn’t care.

If he can’t lead his people, I’ll find someone else who can.

This one has been informed to tell you, your majesty, that his people shall not disappoint you as his son did, the spider on the table between him and Jorōgumo spoke.

David smirked. To think he’d apologise for the failings of his son’s corpse. No matter. “Tell him I expect great things.”

The spider nodded and passed the message along.

For this month’s attack against the Free People’s Alliance, David himself had decided to take direct command this time for a few reasons.

Firstly, he needed more experience directing a battle as it played out in real time. Before, he had created thorough plans with specific instructions for his commanders and soldiers; however, he hadn’t properly led a battle from the frontlines in quite some time. Even when Themis was sacked, he stood by and just laughed while the others did the work for him.

If he was going to win the war, he needed to become a much greater strategist, one who could work well under pressure and make quick decisions when push came to shove.

Secondly, during the last attack on The Dragon’s Mouth, the Bloody Knight of the Beast Woods and his undead had made quite an impact and successfully lured the defenders out from behind the walls. David wanted to see how much the Alliance had learnt since then and if there was anything he needed to be extra cautious off moving forward.

Finally, he wanted to test something that only Jorōgumo could help him with at present.

Beside the ears of each captain and giant was a small member of Jorōgumo’s brood, no bigger than a fly, that would relay David’s orders in real time to the army as the battle changed and evolved. The Alliance had mages capable of speaking telepathically, but Hermes’s research into creating a spell for the Demon Empire had not yet borne fruit.

The Alliance doesn’t know that we lack that ability, but do they know about Jorōgumo and her brood? Either way, that doesn’t matter right now - now, I need to see how quickly information can be transmitted and how well I can read and change the flow of the battle from here.

“Begin the attack.”

Not a second later, the army moved to strike.

First, the giants unleashed artillery barrages.

The arrows pierced the walls and towers, but didn’t land a fatal blow on anyone. The rocks that were thrown were blocked by barriers conjured by mages, rendering the attack useless.

The undead charged forward, the unarmed skeletons leading the way.

“Aim for the gates.”

The giants did as directed and were starting to see some progress, but it was slow. The arrows pierced the thick wood, but the rocks missed most of the time, hitting the gatehouse instead.

Still, the defenders remained behind the walls.

Arrows and magic were launched at the encroaching undead, destroying many long before they reached the walls. Those that made it to the walls placed ladders and started to climb.

Some were thrown back down, others made it to the top only to be instantly destroyed by Alliance soldiers; a few made it on top and began to fight.

Once one made it, so did four more and so on, until a large number of skeletons consistently managed to scale the walls.

But their progress was promptly halted by the appearance of adventurers and a team of the Summoned Heroes, as well as an officer rallying the defenders and getting them into defensive formations.

The invaders were beginning to be repelled, but all David could do was watch.

He had no orders to give because there wasn’t much he could say.

His artillery was largely ineffective, his forces had put ladders to the walls and then scaled them, but that was all.

He hadn’t, like last time, managed to lure the defenders out, leaving fifty thousand armoured undead standing at the rear, not doing anything, waiting for their moment.

“Does it tire you out?”

“Not at all, Master,” Jorōgumo answered honestly. “For I and my brood, this is a natural thing we’re able to do without the usage of any additional magics. It would be the equivalent of you needing to know how to breathe to survive; you just know instinctively how to do it.”

“…I see. And here I was worried I was overworking you.”

“Far from it, Master.”

“Have you managed to think of anything else you’d like as a reward yet?”

“No. I have everything I already need.”

“Surely, there must be something else,” David said. “If I don’t give you a reward for your hard work, it’d appear as if I don’t value my subordinates and their efforts.”

“The people know you do, just like the vampire the other day.”

“What sort of look does it give off if a member of my inner council goes unrewarded?”

“…I shall think more on this matter, Master.”

“Good.” David sat back and relaxed a little.

Though he had intended to spend most of his day here watching the battle, the truth of the matter was that it might be over soon.

He’d brought fifty Dread Knights, as well as drinks and food, to be safe, but it would appear they were unnecessary.

When David saw the giants run out of projectiles, he said, “Have the giants hold their ground. Send the rest of the skeletons in; rush the walls.”

“Master.”

“What?”

“These are all undead you yourself have summoned, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Yet, you asked me to relay your orders to them.” Jorōgumo looked quizzingly at him. “Why?”

“Because I cannot do that with all that serve under me,” he said. “The undead I summon are the rare exception; I must tell everyone in person what to do without your help. Today’s battle was meant to test the effectiveness of our communications skills, but that will sadly not happen.”

The two sat in silence for the next half an hour as the battle drew towards its end, with only around thirty thousand skeletons left standing, almost all of them were of the armoured variety.

“How strong is the Demon Empire now, Master?”

“Surely you would know best with your brood everywhere,” David mused.

This one has been instructed to only speak of what the Demon Emperor seeks, the spider chimed in.

David laughed a little. “How diligent of you.

“By the year’s end, we’ll have one thousand Dread Knights. Add them to the Demonic Legion, the undead, the giants, the gargoyles, the vampires, the werewolves, the spiders, the goblins, the pirates and the Gørviligr, and the total might of my army will be millions strong. The Alliance, at present, has roughly one million soldiers, guards, knights and adventurers combined, and they look to increase that number to two million within eight to twelve more months.”

“…You fear our numbers are not enough.” David chuckled at the spider’s honesty. “Did I offend you?”

“Far from it.” David lent back in his chair and let out a refreshing smile, though it appeared it only relaxed him based on the slight shaking he heard from the Dread Knights in their armour. “I feel that you are one of the only people who speak the truth to me without fear of reprise. It’s most refreshing.”

“…I thank you for your kind words.”

He watched the battle again, though he already knew it was going to result in a defeat.

The Alliance held the walls firmly. The spiders had nearly reached the gatehouse, but the heroes, led by Hajime and Akane, repelled them successfully, though they didn’t come out unscathed. The giants ranged barrages had less of an effect this time, which was within David’s expectations but it was irritating nonetheless.

As for the skeletons, the armoured ones did better than their naked counterparts, but all were largely useless outside of the purpose David intended them to have.

Satisfied, he stood up and smiled. “Jorōgumo, sound the retreat. We’re done here.”

The Dread Knights began gathering up the table, chairs and refreshments and started taking them back to the Dread Keep while the spider mistress stood still, a little dazed and confused.

“Less than a thousand enemies died whereas most of our forces fell, yet you smile,” she said.

“When did most of the enemies die?”

“Towards the end, after repelling the unarmoured skeletons.”

“I see you haven’t realised what I wanted to test today,” he mumbled. Then, louder, he said, “No matter how strong our enemies are, they tire and exhaust themselves. They will eventually need to rest, they know that too, so how do we deny them that? The answer is numbers.

“Ever since the day I arrived in Aangapea, the vast majority of my armies have been made out of undead soldiers. At present, there are more than a million undead fighting for me and that number grows with every passing day, and with every dead rebel that falls onto the dirt. The Demonic Legion is still at three thousand members, the Dread Knights aren’t even a third of that. The Machai suffered great losses conquering this land, especially during the Hundred Days War, the pirate fleet we enlisted burnt and drowned in a single strike, and even now rebels continue to evade my best generals and forces.

“Our numbers must become our advantage. We can more easily replace our losses than they can. A hundred thousand skeletons might fail to take a fortress like this in a siege, but with Abaddon to blast open the gates or Fenrir to leap ropes onto the walls, it will fall. The numbers will do the rest.”

He laughed. “With every battle won, their hopes for victory decrease. They might learn from their mistakes as we’ve just witnessed, but it won’t be enough.”

Still somewhat confused, Jorōgumo wordlessly followed him back through the portal to the Dread Keep where Eva and Willa were dashing over to them.

“Lord Allaric!” Between ragged pants, Eva yelled. “The empress has gone into labour!”