The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 208

Chapter 208 – War Magic

With the exercise completed, I transitioned to the true reason I had brought my disciples with me today. I intended to give the Japanese and Nepalese forces a lecture on the nature of War Magic. Obviously, they would be spreading this information around, as would my disciples and I. However, I was well aware that you could not truly understand War Magic without seeing it. Unfortunately, using War Magic outside of war tended to leave a good deal of collateral damage behind.

“Mistress,” Lucia started, hesitantly, “what is the difference between War Magic and Siege Magic?”

I nodded. As good a place to start as any. “The answer, Lucia, is that it is the same difference between a Rectangle and a Square. All squares fit the definition of a rectangle, but not all rectangles are squares. Siege Magic is a specialized set of magics, designed for defending or assaulting fixed fortifications and other strong points. As such, they are part of War Magics, but War Magic extends beyond that scope.

“War Magic comes in many forms, but most military minds in the other world into four main branches: Attack, Defense, Sensory, and Support. Some include Healing as a fifth branch. Others, though, include combat healers in with Defense, and medical facilities for more advanced healing in with Support. There are arguments for both viewpoints, as you might expect.”

“Depending on whether you’re looking at things in a use-based or skill-based point of view, your Majesty?” Pantha asked.

“Precisely. Those who look mainly at the skills involved include healers as their own branch. Those looking at how the skills are used split them between other branches. Neither side is exactly right, but neither is quite wrong, either, in my experience.”

I paused a moment, so they could consider that, before continuing. “Starting with Attack magic, you of course have things like your basic lightning bolt or fireball spells. However, this also includes the spells to increase the power of your weapons. For every element, there are multiple ways you can inflict damage upon your foe, depending on what your intent is.

“To use Death as an example, we can begin with the Death Blade spell, which coats a weapon in Death mana, increasing its power dramatically against living creatures. Change the spell slightly, though, and you have Entropic Blade, which targets objects, like armor, walls, and so forth, inflicting Entropy on them, causing them to age and degrade rapidly, while only doing normal damage against living targets. You can do the same with ranged spells, as well, but shooting ranged spells into a melee is a wonderful way to introduce people to the concept of ‘friendly fire’.”

Pantha snorted. “First rule any trainee learns is that friendly fire isn’t.”

“Quite,” I nodded. “Which means that learning the melee and ranged variants of spells is simply prudent. However, there is another aspect of War Magic that scholars go back and forth on, unable to decide whether it is Attack, Support, or Healing. Anyone have a guess as to what type of magic I would be talking about?”

“Debuffs, Mistress?” Nawai asked.

I nodded. “Yes, that would be the term used in gaming circles for decades, now. Technically, they would be called ‘afflictions’, but that is only when dealing with academics. Afflictions work by weakening a target’s defenses in some way. The Flammable spell increases the flammability of the target. Put enough power into it, and even wood that is soaked through will catch fire like dry tinder. A fairly straightforward attack, even though you aren’t damaging the target directly.

“On the other hand, the Heat Loss spell saps the target’s internal temperature. This is often used by healers to treat heat stroke, or to reduce strain on mortal armies on the march. Less heat, less fatigue, and so on. It can also be used to keep food fresh while on the march. Sounds like a straightforward Support spell, no? However, when turned against a mortal enemy, it can induce hypothermia, ruining their coordination, and making them easier to eliminate. The same spell, but used in different ways.”

“Which is why Healing is sometimes its own branch, and sometimes not,” Kiya nodded. “The skills used by a healer can also be used to harm. And I assume that if ‘debuffs’ blur the lines, that ‘buffs’ are the same?”

“Indeed. A spell that enhances a target’s strength, for instance, is clearly a supporting spell, even though it enhances their attacks. The same with the more basic Armor, Shield, or Wall spells. But the Regeneration spell, which gives the target a low-level healing factor, allowing them to heal bruises in minutes instead of days and causing open wounds to clot in seconds, possibly preventing a soldier from bleeding out? That is clearly healing beyond simple support, no?

“Of course, Support is more than just buffs, debuffs, and healing. You also have the spells which aid in logistics. Spells that create water, or help manage waste. Spells that increase traveling speed, or allow reinforcements and supplies to teleport directly to the front. Even before magic returned to the world, military minds knew that wars were won through logistics as much or more than they were through the blood of the soldiers on the field. And the same is true with magic.”

“Even with armies of the dead, Mistress?” Tabia asked.

“Even with armies of the dead,” I nodded. “Even the undead have needs, after all. You have items I have granted you, giving you a supply of blood and protection from the sun. Normal undead armies would have to contend with sating their hunger and thirst on the living, while taking pains to avoid sunlight or holy ground in their march. And the undead still have all the normal issues with maintaining their weapons and armor, and ensuring that they have enough ammunition for an engagement. They may have less to worry about than mortal armies, but they still have needs all the same.”

I could see that everyone understood the basic ideas of what I was saying, so I continued on. “Now, while most civilians think primarily in terms of Attack and Defense when thinking of War Magic, and no sensible military mage ignores Support magic, a surprising number outside of commando or dedicated scouts ignore Sensory magic. In some ways, it is understandable. Mortals have only so much time to dedicate to learning, after all. However, the exercise we just witnessed is one example of why this is a potentially deadly oversight on their part.”

“When you talk about ‘Sensory magic’, you mean more than just seeing in the dark, or detecting spells and mana signatures at range, don’t you?” Kiya asked.

“Exactly. Sensory magic is best known for enhancing your natural senses, or gaining new ones, as well as finding ways to hide yourself or others from those senses. However, it is also using magic to communicate, whether it is a scout reporting in from over the horizon, reporting on the enemy’s movements, or commando whispering an alert to the rest of their squad, warning them of enemy sentries. Interestingly enough, most of the different forms of intangibility or incorporeality exist as Sensory magic, since you are effectively making yourself invisible to touch.”

Almir frowned. “That doesn’t make sense, and yet it makes perfect sense at the same time. Like drunk logic.”

I chuckled at that. “You wouldn’t be far wrong, Almir. While I have never been drunk, myself, I’ve been told that there is a certain simplicity and altered frame of thought that comes with getting completely destroyed by alcohol. In this case, however, it is more likely that someone decided they wanted to keep the categories as simple as possible. And, to a lay person, the difference between someone creating a phantom image of themselves so that someone shoots the image instead of them, and someone simply becoming intangible, so no physical weapon can harm them is effectively nonexistent. This is compounded by the fact that most people outside of the most ardent supporter or pure academics don’t really care enough to make the distinction.”

Nawai nodded. “So, pretty much the same reason why most civilians act as though a clip and a magazine are the same thing for guns. They aren’t, but unless you’re talking to someone who is really into guns, most people don’t care, so long as everyone knows what people are actually talking about.”

“Precisely. Of course, the technical definitions are important if you’re planning on being a professional in the field, but when having to explain things to kings, diplomats, merchants, and the like? Simple explanations are best.”

I sighed, looking back at the group. “When considering magic to be used in war, it is my opinion that the most important sensory spells are not the ones which make one invisible, or the ones that allow you to see invisible creatures, or even the ones that allow you to communicate securely from across an ocean. No, the most important sensory magics are the ones that interfere with your opponent’s senses. Whether it is by creating large-scale illusions, masking an entire area to make a fetid bog appear to all eyes like a fertile meadow, or by blinding an enemy, either temporarily or permanently, allowing you to, hopefully, more easily dispatch them.”

“Wait, so you can just reach out and blind an enemy sentry?” Of course it would be Pantha who reacted first to that. Hardly unexpected of a Gurkha, after all.

“Yes, though making someone blind is the exact opposite of subtle. Good for making an opening, but not something to do when you’re still in the ‘quiet’ phase of an operation. Unless you time it so that you can eliminate the threat before they can yell out or hit the alarm. On the other hand, if you go big, and use ritual magic used to blind every mortal in a fort? That kind of spell may get overlooked by wards and shielding, because it is not something that most people think about when attacking. And, even if you do consider the threat, if the individuals at a high priority base are properly trained up, then they may be able to shrug off or even push back the spell, freeing not just themselves, but others, as well.”

“Oh,” Pantha smiled wickedly. “Oh, I can see how that would cause people to have a really bad day. And I assume that any wards or shields you can use against this kind of assault take away from resources used for other things, yes?”

“Indeed. Of course, this ties into the detection side of Sensory magic, as well. By its nature, ritual magic forges a connection between the ritual site and the target. If you have a sensor or spellwork set up to detect such things, you can block the spell before it forms, or trace the spellwork back to its origin. After all, Thangvald’s Third Rule of Magick says: For every Magick, there is an equal and opposite Magick.”

Kiya nodded slowly. “And low-power detection arrays, whether magical or technological, take up less resources than those active defenses. I’d wager that it is possible to make the ritual more subtle, harder to track, but that it would greatly increase the time needed for it, locking down mages and resources for far longer than the ritual normally would have.”

Lucia nodded slowly. “Or it would increase the number and quality of mages needed. Either way, the resource investment goes up. And you would need to balance that against just using the increased power to force the spell through more quickly, hopefully hitting before the enemy can put the real defenses in place, right?”

I nodded, a smile on my face. “Exactly. There is no defense that is absolute, and no attack that cannot be stopped. With enough time, knowledge, and power, it is not impossible for mortal mages to overcome my defenses, even at my full power. However, I will admit that achieving that would likely require some way of predicting exactly where I would be, or finding a way to lock me down in a location for an extended period of time. Neither of which would be easy on their own.”

“Unless they targeted your castle, Mistress,” Tabia mentioned.

“Ah, but then they would have to defeat not just my power, but also the wards on my castle, as well as the defenses put in place by my loyal retainers. At a certain point, things are just not worth the effort required, unless you are absolutely certain that the success would actually destroy me, instead of making me angry.”