The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 206

Chapter 206 – Stealth

“Welcome to Nepal, your Majesty,” Ittō Kūsa Kiya Kumi said, as I approached the exercise area near Kohalpur, near the Nepalese border with India, my disciples in tow. This was not going to be an actual battle exercise, so there was no harm in them seeing this, after all. Learning about magical stealth would be very beneficial for them. “Though I admit that I am surprised about the look. I heard you were in full regalia when you watched the soldiers attack their new fort.”

I chuckled at the woman’s words. After all, I was wearing a hooded robe, like my disciples. However, my robe contained many colors. Red, Blue, White, and Brown signified the elements of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. Violet, Green, Gold, and Black represented the elements of Death, Life, Light, and Shadow. All were present in my robe, because I was an Archmage of the Elements Undivided. Over that, I had a tabard showing my crest, and a belt around my waist. Leather sandals were on my feet, and a simple satchel bag hanging across my chest. The only truly outrageous jewelry I had on was my crown, the ankh hanging from my neck, and the rings on my fingers. In one hand, I had my staff, as usual. Most importantly, though, I was in my human guise today, my power cloaked.

“Well, Kiya-san, there is good reason for this. The goal of the exercise is to practice dropping my troops behind enemy lines, without their being noticed until it is to late, yes? If I came in my full ‘Lich Queen’ regalia, much less the dragon form I obtained when unleashing the Prime Seal, then it would spoil the test. My power is such that, unless I keep it cloaked, they would detect it in Mumbai, over fifteen hundred kilometers away.”

Next to Kiya, a Nepalese man chuckled. He was wearing the combat uniform of the Nepali Army, but I could see from his mana that he was a Shadowsoul, a Warrior with Shadow element. The man offered me a salute, and introduced himself. “Mahāsēnānī Akshay Pantha, Shreenath Company, Nepali Army. And if you’ll allow it, your Majesty, I don’t know if the fact you said that with no sign of lying or boasting makes you more terrifying, or less.”

I raised an eyebrow at the man, but couldn’t keep a grin from my face. The mahāsēnānī rank was a colonel-equivalent, according to my reading. That marked him as important. But the company name? That had special meaning.

 “For one of the legendary Gurkhas to say such a thing about me? I will take that has high praise. Especially from one who is trained as a Shadowsoul. I expect you’ve found the training integrates well with your traditional methods.”

That brought a smile to Pantha’s face. “For the Lich Queen to pay respects to our history is an honor. And yes, the training on the Warrior’s Way and Mage’s Path was quickly integrated into the Army’s training. While I doubt we could match your commandos, yet, I am confident that the Gurkhas will continue to prove they are among the best mortal commandos in the world.”

“And I wouldn’t bet against you, Mahāsēnānī. But, let us turn to the order of the day, yes? I’ve been informed that my knights have loaded onto the planes, and they are on the way?”

“Yes,” Kiya nodded. “The planes took off from a field near Banaganga an hour ago. Less than two hundred kilometers, direct flight, but with the mountains and terrain, that puts it outside the range of our magic detection systems. So, we’ll be able to see if they are giving off enough of a signal for the devices to catch.”

I considered that for a moment, before nodding. “My knights know how to suppress their mana temporarily, and can work with their steeds to accomplish that much, for a bit. They’ll need to drop the suppression to ride through the air, or use any of their abilities, but they should be able to escape detection, from those who did not already know they were there, or who weren’t scanning expressly for them. Well, at least until they’re closer, though the exact range will depend on the sensitivity of the equipment being used. What about the mana engines in the planes themselves? How hard are they to detect?”

Pantha grinned at that. “The planes are the same ones we’ve been using for aerial insertions. The base is a Shaanxi Y-15, but updated to the Y-15M model. It is called the Shadow Wing and includes the new mana engines and some magic assists for other aspects, like a passive armor and sensor-diffusing enchantments to help the craft survive hostile encounters. It has two modes, both running on ambient mana.

“The first is Stealth Mode. Only gets about 60 knots, fully loaded, making it on par with early World War I fighters, but the mana engines are virtually undetectable by mana detectors at more than three kilometers. Because it uses basic shielding and Air mana to keep air pressure for the engines and crew spaces optimal, we’ve been able to fly reliably in stealth mode at altitudes of fifty meters to twenty-five kilometers.”

I did not bother hiding my surprise at that. “The same plane, able to perform missions at basically ground level and up well into the stratosphere? Really?”

Kiya laughed at that. “You, of all people, should know how much of a game changer magic is, your Majesty.”

Pantha nodded. “The Stealth Mode’s sensor diffusion enchantment basically scatters light and other energy coming at the plane, making the radar return for the plane little more than a flock of birds. For a plane measuring 36 meters in length, and with a wingspan of 38 meters? There is a reason we prefer the Shadow Wing to other transports for aerial insertions.”

“I can see that. Though the low speed is an issue for the flight crew, and anyone stuck in the back for too long. Is it hard finding airfields that can handle it?”

“The Y-14 is an evolution of the Y-9, developed expressly for Short Take-Off and Landing operations. The manual recommends a minimum runway of one thousand meters and dirt strips of three thousand meters, but that is without magic or rocket assist. As with the shield enchantment, flight crews and passengers can add their mana to the engines to increase power on takeoff or help the brakes bleed speed safely on landing, potentially reducing the required runway by 30%. With magic and rocket assist? The record is a runway five hundred meters long.”

I whistled softly. That was impressive, by any metric. Being able to land and take off a fully loaded transport on a runway only five hundred meters long meant that the plane could land and take off pretty much any general aviation airfield anywhere in the world, so long as it had the proper boosts.

“But that is in Stealth Mode. What about the other mode?”

Kiya chuckled. “Well, the Performance Mode cuts the mana to the stealth systems and boosts the engines somewhat. Runway needs are the same, as are the altitude capabilities, but it increases the speed from 60 knots to 150 knots, or roughly equivalent to cruising speeds for the C-47 used in World War II. So, about seven and a half hours to fly from Beijing to Tokyo, assuming no other issues. Not ideal, by the standards of Pre-Unsealing aviation, but considering the difficulties of getting aviation-grade fuel? More than acceptable.”

“Fascinating. How easy is it to switch between modes? Can it be done mid-flight?”

Kiya grimaced slightly at that. “On the ground, switching modes is essentially throwing a couple switches. In the air? Trying to go from one to the other without first throttling back to just above stall speed puts a huge strain on the plane. You can do change modes without slowing down, but unless you have someone doing reinforcement magic on the plane itself, you’re going to need major maintenance as soon as you land. Even with reinforcement magic, you risk ‘incidents’ if you do it more than once or twice between complete maintenance overhauls.”

“By incidents,” Pantha said dryly, “she means ‘the wings are no longer attached to the plane’, or ‘the engines had better places to be’. Though I admit I am personally fond of ‘the propeller decided it wished to see the inside of the passenger compartment up close’.”

“You have an engineer or mechanic in your family, don’t you, Mahāsēnānī?”

Pantha chuckled, and nodded to me. “Yes, my mother. She met my father, who was also a Ghurka, when she was keeping the planes together at the base he trained at. I learned many colorful descriptions and words before I was in Lower Secondary school, I assure you. But I grew up on a military base, so that was not entirely unheard of.”

“Some things truly are universal,” I nodded. I was about to continue, when I felt something… “Mahāsēnānī, Ittō Kūsa, please check your instruments.”

Kiya and Pantha barked orders to their people in Japanese and Nepali. The sensor techs shook their heads. Kiya raised an eyebrow, and I said, “It isn’t a secret, but there is a link between an Undead and the one who created them. If I focus, I can sense and contact any undead I have created within three thousand kilometers. But if I am not focusing, then around one hundred kilometers is my passive limit.”

Pantha nodded. “Ah, assuming it took the planes a little time to get to altitude and form up before they began their journey here? They would just be crossing within a hundred kilometers about now. Which means that, at the very least, the first part of our exercise is a success.”

Kiya breathed out slowly. “So, planning for the worst-case scenario, with an installation that is on alert and actively looking for intruders, radar will likely start getting intermittent contacts within the next fifteen minutes, but nothing firm until much closer. The mana detectors won’t notice the plane’s engines, in their stealth configuration, until three kilometers out, so any readings on the detectors before that will be ‘leakage’ from the knights.”

I nodded slowly. “If they make it to three kilometers, that will give any ‘defenders’ a window to react of just under three minutes to get ready to receive the charge, and less than two minutes, if the knights are moving at full speed, without trying to form a cohesive battle line. Their steeds can ride at one hundred and thirty kilometers an hour, after all, and sustain that pace as only the undead can.”

Pantha frowned. “Even if they had people at battle stations and on full alert, they would barely have a chance to respond before they were too close for any emplaced weapons to be truly effective. And I saw the results of your legion’s exercise in Bangladesh. Once in melee with your forces, the enemy can be effectively written off as an actual concern.”

Kiya nodded slowly. “Even at ten kilometers out, that would still be precious little time for a defense to be mounted, even with a base on alert. And this is just your cavalry, not the wraiths you used in the Azores.”

“The wraiths have another weakness, however, which is that sunlight robs them of much of their strength. Not enough to damage or kill them outright, but enough to make it more likely that mortals can repulse or destroy them. With that said, they can pass through the ground, without needing to breathe, or they can ‘ride’ in an individual’s shadow. And if you have multiple wraiths in someone’s shadow, then one can split off into another person’s shadow if those shadows cross, and so on. Even if Shadow magic is used to make the shadows cross unnaturally. Makes it very useful for infiltration, when one person of interest talks to another person of interest, and spreads agents throughout their organization, or allows an agent to ‘leapfrog’ from shadow to shadow until they get to the person in charge.”

Pantha’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Is this an ‘undead’ thing, or can anyone who has the Shadow element do something like this?”

“With training and hard work? A mortal can mirror what monsters, be they living or dead, can accomplish naturally. Magic is adaptable, like that. But for that ability specifically, it would work best for either a Shadowbringer, a Witch of Shadow that works with the element’s natural tendencies, rather than forcing it to do something it does not wish to do, or a Shadowsoul, a Warrior who focuses their magic inside themselves, rather than as a weapon. The other Ways and Paths, and the other elements, for that matter, could accomplish it, but not as easily, or as well.”

“Well, that gives me something new to think on, then, regardless of how this exercise ends.”