The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 204

Chapter 204 – Exercise

Watching the exercises unfold was an interesting experience. I had seen war, of course, and I had seen armies train. I had even seen armies of different nations working together, before, as different countries under the Demon King’s rule worked together to try and halt my advance. This was the same, and yet different.

Her forces were the first ones on the attack, set to try and storm and take the citadel that had been built for this purpose. The fact that it would also serve as a fortification should India decide to invade was just a happy byproduct. As she sat in the observer trailer, watching drone views of the unfolding exercise she considered how what she was seeing was both advancement and regression in the way war was fought.

Current mana engines were reliable, and strong, but their speed was limited. Someone using their own mana to boost things would allow them to go faster, but that was unsustainable. Most such designs for vehicles the size and mass of a tank were able to move roughly the same speed as a horse at a canter. With extra mana, they could get up to the speed of a gallop, but the conversion rate was punishing.

Such speeds weren’t terrible, when one talked about delivery vans or a transit system moving around a city. It was less than ideal for anyone who had a long commute, of course, and unfortunate for transporting goods over distances across land. But for a fighting vehicle? They might as well have been standing still, with a nice big target painted on the hull.

That was likely why the other world had never developed anything like mechanized warfare, now that I thought about it. They had cavalry, and siege engines, and such things. There were even flying machines and other mad artificer designs. However, without easy access to plentiful fuel reserves that would allow the experimentation to iterate and expand on ideas, the closest the other world had gotten to something seen in this world was a railroad connecting the capital of the Gnome kingdom to the kingdom’s main border cities. That train had used bound fire elementals to power the steam reaction in the engine, and was considered a marvel of the new age, possible only because the gnomes weren’t needing to spend all their steel on weapons and armor to fight the Demon King. However, the technology was still very early days. Maybe in a few hundred years, if any of the civilizations survived what I did as I left Onearth, they would have something equivalent to Pre-Awakening tech on Earth.

Given what Murena had revealed about the structure of the universe, how Earth, Onearth, and the dragon Onedeirth’s home world of Ouros were all in the same universe, and how the dimension of the Void could be used to travel between them, there was a chance that I would see Onearth again someday. Not because I wished to, of course. If I went my entire eternal life without setting foot on that world again, it would be too soon. However, a door that is closed can be reopened, and a path walked once can be followed. Now that magic was fully unleashed on Earth, there was a chance that people might be able to find their way here.

Of course, I doubted that anything left on Onearth could challenge me anymore. Well, at least not anything on the continent I’d conquered and ruined. There were other continents on that world, I knew, and plenty of deep places in the world, including the ocean depths. I wasn’t so arrogant as to believe I was the most powerful being in existence.

However, I was also unusual, compared to other true powers, beings that could make the world the way they wanted, because of their great power. Most of those types were slow to act of their own accord, wary of causing too much chaos or disruption, preferring to react to things, but even those reactions were slow, by normal standards. When someone can wipe a city off a map with a wave of their hand, some level of restraint is necessary.

By contrast, I would be considered unusually active and proactive by that standard. A mere forty-year campaign to wipe a continent clean of my enemies? That was a blink of the eye to some of the true powers. My actions here on Earth since my return? Breakneck pace. But then, I was young as a power, and the world around me was already in a state of flux, while the other true powers were far, far older, and used to engaging in schemes that would last a century or more.

Looking back at the exercise, things were going about as expected. Mana-imbued mortars were fired, lobbing enhanced explosive rounds onto the approaching undead legion. She heard the crack of rifles in slow, controlled fire. No more than a three-round burst at a time. Spells, thaumaturgist and mage spells alike, flared out, changing the terrain. Mostly Earth spells, designed to create trenches and other obstacles, and slow the legion. Anything to slow or damage the oncoming force.

Of course, my legion did not simply take the damage, without doing anything. The legion was fighting as though they were freshly arrived, so the only siege weapons on their side were the enchanted scorpions. Ballistae and trebuchets would have been more devastating, but even my legions needed time to properly set those up, and they were not particularly easy to reposition. The lighter (and therefore more mobile) scorpions would serve.

Streaks of light flew from the scorpions, and then more from the auxiliaries as the archers let fly with their bows. The mage lines focused on defense, keeping shields up to cover the army as they moved forward. Not every army in the other world had been organized like mine. Some favored cavalry for their greater mobility, and some were primarily archers and skirmishers, just as two examples. But the undead had an advantage in that they did not tire, and it was hard to kill that which was already dead. Heavy infantry closing to melee just made sense for them.

Of course, there was also a psychological aspect to it, as well. Undead were already deeply unsettling to most living creatures, on some level. Seeing a legion of ghouls, skeletons, zombies, and more, armed and armored, walking in unison through fire and flame, not stopping for anything, even when the ground opens up in front of them? A relentless march of inevitable doom that never tires or rests? That was terrifying to the average mortal.

The imbued shots from the scorpions pierce the walls, and the gate. However, they are too powerful for the job. Or, at least, not the right tool. The shots passed straight through the walls, much less the gate, but the penetration was too high. You couldn’t destroy a gate, much less a wall, with pinprick holes. Well, you could, but it would take a lot of work, as well as a lot of time. And my troops were not so foolish as to waste time and ammunition for nothing while giving the enemy time to think up something new, and potentially devastating.

Fortunately, my troops were victors of a hundred sieges. They knew how to take a castle, even if the star fort style was not something that I had encountered in the other world. Spells did not typically have physical projectiles to deflect, save for some Earth and Water spells. That meant there had been no need to developed sloped walls.

I blinked, as I saw some of my troops beginning to trickle into the safe zone, teleported there by the spell I had cast earlier. Oh, the defenders had been getting people sent to their safe zone this whole time as arrows and scorpion bolts hit home, even if they passed through walls to do so. At least two or three hundred, by this point. Three of my own were now in the safe zone. No, four now.

“Impressive,” I said, and I meant it. Yes, they were suffering casualties at a rate of almost 100 to 1, but the fact that they were able to narrow the score even that much was incredible. Likely, if I looked into it, I’d find them focusing fire, having several archers or mages concentrate on a single target, until that target is gone, and then the group moves to the next target. The tactic was called General’s Bane, because the idea was to start working up and down the chain of command, until the chain no longer existed. If they’d been able to properly identify officers, then that approach would be even more effective.

Colonel Nabi must have misunderstood, because he sighed. “Yes, we aren’t losing as badly as I thought we would. But then, our projections didn’t have your mages mostly defending.”

I shook my head. “No, that much is within my expectations. My army focuses more towards melee, which is the chief strength of an undead force. If this were a battle of armies on the field, the mages would be contributing more firepower, to help control the battlefield, if nothing else. But for a citadel assault? Keeping the casualties down until you get into close range is the right tactic. All my commanders know this much.

“No, what is impressive is that you’ve managed to take out this many of my line troops, despite the clear disparity in power and ability. Not to disparage your people, Colonel. You’ve come a long way in a short time. Longer than you might think, for you to be able to accomplish this much. But your people were starting from a very different place than mine did. For you to come this far, this fast? That is truly impressive.”

“Indeed, my Queen,” Ligate Tybost nodded. “The tactics are raw, unpolished, but well-reasoned, and executed adequately. Without any true threats to test them on until now, this is far better than my projections. Clearly, I will need to train my people more.”

“Now, let us not be hasty, Ligate!” Dae-ryeong Sang said, half-joking. “If your troops go and get any stronger, then we really will start feeling like useless fodder!”

“You are thinking of this in the wrong terms, Dae-ryeong,” I cautioned. “While my troops may be stronger, a mortal army is, by its nature, more adaptable, and better suited towards innovation. If my people are tanks, and your people are riding motorcycles carrying whatever weapons they can manage while riding, then you should never fight the tank’s battle unless you have no choice, but make them fight your battle, on your terms.

“Or, to put it in other terms, my troops are like an ōdachi. Big, powerful, able to control ground. Your troops are a wakizashi. Not as strong, not as powerful, not as much reach. However, the wakizashi can be paired with a weapon in the other hand. It can be used more easily in tight spaces, or areas where the ōdachi would be a hindrance. With a wakizashi, you can fight indoors, one hand holding shut a door while you fight with the other. With an ōdachi, fighting indoors becomes problematic, at best.”

Ittō Rikusa Hirose nodded. “It is in earth’s nature to stand strong, and water’s nature to flow. Frozen water may hold its shape, but that does not make it stone. We should be looking for ways to integrate your troops with ours, instead of competing against them. That’s what you mean?”

“Yes, and no. No, you should absolutely look at my forces, and see what you can learn from them, just as my people are looking at yours, and seeing what they can learn. But yes, you should find ways to act that suit your strengths, rather than trying to fight a war on someone else’s terms.”

Colonel Nabi nodded. “Wise words, your Majesty.”