The Siege of Arconia: Chapters 36-38

Now that our first line of defense, the Rank Three offensive spells had been exhausted, it was time for us Rank Three Liberomancers to try what other means we had with our mana exhausted.

“Summons!” came a shout from Drake, signifying that the time was ripe.

I had used up my Rank Three summon, and would be saving the Elephant Frog for when things got dire, but anyone else who could summon something, did.

It suddenly looked like a zoo - or a circus had broken free from the top of the city wall. Most summons were too big to actually keep on the wall effectively, and as such, this was deemed the right time to use them as an assortment of bears, wolves, and things like the Elephant Frog appeared at the foot of the wall and charged into the enemy lines.

I couldn’t help but feel a small bit of pride at seeing so many Elephant Frogs in the mix of summons that had been sent out. All of them had been from grimoires I had written and sold, and despite everything I felt a tiny spark of joy knowing that this was the result of something that I had created. It had taken about a hundred hours, maybe more, of me making that grimoire over and over to get money and to swap it for other grimoires - it was quite satisfying to see that bear fruit in other ways.

Also, it was amusing somewhat to imagine how the dryads must be reacting to a living cannonball in the form of a giant frog that was suddenly aimed at them.

There were some very unusual summoned creatures like giant scorpions or snakes mixed in, but that was sort of to be expected. Some people would have unusual summons - maybe from grimoires that had been purchased from long distances away, and others being their own personal creations or secret grimoires passed down through their families.

This line of summons ran into the enemy lines with no regard for their own safety. The dryads attacked back - whether with primitive spears or with their own claws, but they took quite a beating as well.

The summons were able to buy us some time, but the truth of the matter was that there weren’t enough of them to hold off the enemy for any significant period of time. Also, because the summons were quite different in terms of size and methods of attack, they could not hold a united front or formation without their being large gaps within it. Even while playing defensively, the dryads could often slip in between gaps created in the line, or simply use them to strike at a summon from the rear or a flank.

The lines of summons began to thin out, after which the dryads were able to pick away at the remaining ones and then surged forward.

It was time for the Rank Two Liberomancers to act once the dryads were within range of them, casting [Fireball]. That, along with arrows and other projectiles rained down on the dryads. Their skin was normally quite tough, but it seemed that a lack of blood had caused it to become somewhat brittle and soft. Arrows pierced through them easily now. That was good, but not enough to stop them.

Whenever my mana would recover to the point where I could cast it, I would use [Grand Fireball] again, and the enemy line would be broken before surging forward yet again.

It was here that I saw another advantage of being a dedicated fire elementalist - because Drake’s spells required less mana to cast, he could recover enough mana to use them quicker than I could as well.

Eventually, the projectiles and even the mana of the Rank Two Liberomancers ran out, and the enemy had reached the ditch that had been dug out in front of the city’s wall. It was filled with traps, but although there were screams of pain from the enemy, they crawled over each other in an attempt to get over the wall.

Boiling sand and water was cast down, and the spearmen formed up in ranks.

“Liberomancers, get back!” Drake yelled out. I had drawn my weapon, but was pulled back by someone. “Let the spearmen hold the line - recover your mana!”

There were guard towers on top of the wall - many Rank Three Liberomancers moved up to them. By now, the enemy was close enough that they could get a good shot even while perched up there, and it also meant that we were less likely to get injured. I went atop one but had to go back down again - there were unfortunately blind spots where neither I nor the other Liberomancers could get a good shot without hitting our own men.

Projectiles now came from the other side - slung stones, or arrows, or spears. Given the height difference and the walls, as well as the cover provided by where we stood, very few of them made their mark, though a spearman or two did fall over, needing medical attention.

If only things as convenient as mana potions existed in this world. But alas, there was nothing of the sort, which was why mana-raising grimoires were in such high demand in the first place.

I could only hope that the front gate was holding - though since that was guarded by Lance, it should be the part of the wall that held up the longest.

The fight now turned into an odd slug fest with the spearmen desperately trying to keep the dryads off the wall. The dryads possessed strength greater than that of a human or lizardmen individually and were also bigger than most humans, but they were hindered by their position as well as gravity. Not only that, but the spearmen had the advantage of numbers and a tight formation on their side.

I, and the others, cast [Grand Fireball] whenever we could, after which there was usually a lull in the fighting before more dryads poured in.

Seeing how the tide of battle was going, it did look like we would eventually prevail. But people were falling over left and right, most of them ordinary soldiers, but occasionally a Liberomancer as well.

I had felt fear before, in the earlier skirmishes as well, but this was something entirely different. Earlier, I had been casting spells from a very safe distance while the enemy was reduced to cinders, now, the enemy was practically in my face.

If it weren’t for the fact that there was nowhere to go, I won’t lie; I might’ve ran. I had never been in a serious fight before this, let alone a full-scale battle, and the adrenaline was all that was keeping me from potentially keeling over.

And so the rhythm of the battle continued. The dryads had not yet managed to get any of their members on top of the wall for more than a few seconds, which was good.

At some point in the fighting, a claw would’ve scratched off a good portion of my face while I was aiming and casting [Grand Fireball] - it was thanks to [Paper Armor] that I ended up taking no damage, but that was an ability that only lasted once a day. I couldn’t rely on it again for the rest of the fight. I still had not mastered [Ansoon’s Blessing] so using that was out of the question despite how useful it might’ve been.

Time seemed to slow down as minutes felt like hours, as my heart raced so hard within my chest that it felt like it was going to burst, as I heard screams not only from the enemy, but my own side as well.

Images seemed to meld together into one jarring array of pictures as the fighting continued.

A soldier who was dragged off the wall by a dryad and was never seen again.

A novice Liberomancer who had not aimed a [Fireball] correctly and nearly caught some of our own soldiers in his spell.

The face of an angry dryad as he was pushed off the wall.

The sight of a ladder that had latched onto the wall, with soldiers desperately trying to dislodge it.

Volleys of enemy projectiles would occasionally happen, causing everyone to duck.

A strange scent filled the air - I took in a deep breath only to realize that it was coming from someone who had soiled themselves. Actually, multiple people might have.

Punctuated through all of this were the blasts of [Grand Fireball] which were always remarkable for the huge explosions they created - and the large gaps in the enemy line they could make. The dryads were always pushed back greatly whenever one of these spells were cast. No wonder every Rank Three Liberomancer was needed for the fight - a few blasts of [Grand Fireball] could oftentimes buy everyone a few minutes, and no doubt had saved countless lives.

The draftsmen were loyally buying time for us to constantly regenerate mana as they kept up a shield wall. I don’t know if they resented us for that, thought of us as cowards for hiding behind them, or thought of us as incompetent for being unable to hold back the tide completely in the first place despite how much we touted our expertise as Rank Three Liberomancers. To their credit not once had the line broken as of yet. The weather would’ve otherwise been quite nice, but I had already drenched through my clothes completely from how much I was sweating.

I had also accumulated a number of small injuries- a scratch over my face, I was sure one of my toes on my left foot was broken, and I was likely sporting a bruise on my right shoulder from when an arrow had struck it, though thankfully my armor shielded me from the worst of the blow.

The tip of one of my fingers had been cut off by a stray arrow, and it somewhat bothered me how little it hurt, perhaps because of just how much my mind was caught up in the fighting. My mana was still gone, but a medic was nice enough to patch it up so that the stump stopped bleeding. [Regeneration] would take care of the rest, or I could find a proper healer after the fighting was over to patch that up.

I did not bother the healers on duty with my small wounds. There were others far worse off than I was, people who had lost limbs, for example. And every drop of my own mana had to be committed to offense.

Through all of this, the dryad tide did not seem to thin at all, as for every one we struck down, another dryad quickly took its place.

Despite how the situation looked, there was a small glimmer of hope through all of it - the sun was about to set. We had been fighting for only a few hours even though it felt like it had gone on for days, but when the sun set, it would hopefully mean that the dryads would withdraw from their assault. At least, most of us thought so, given that they had never attempted to attack us after daylight hours up until now. Either they couldn’t see very well at night, or just became less active, whatever it was, so long as it gave us time to recharge, they would be sure to lose tomorrow.

If only we could just hold out till then…

The chaotic scenery continued. One advantage that [Grand Fireball] and [Fireball] had over conventional firearms was that they didn’t generate smoke or noise, but even with those advantages, it was hard to keep track of what was going on with all the shouting and spells flying. Some semblance of order was maintained, but it appeared exceptionally fragile, like a glass kept just at the edge of a table practically begging to be knocked over.

Eventually, there was a lull in the fighting. That was when I saw it - Drake had gone near the edge to cast [Grand Fireball] again when an enemy spear found its mark - he turned his head to the side in time but it still struck the side of his helm and he fell over the edge of the wall.

It was like I was watching it in slow motion as I ran forward. Before I could get to him, he had already hit the ground, though he must have had something that cushioned him from the fall like [Gravity Guard] which passively negated all fall damage as I saw no broken bones or blood pooling out from under him. But it looked like the strike to his head had knocked him out, because he was not trying to get up or cast anything.

His fall had momentarily stunned the surrounding dryads, but they were not going to remain like that for long once they realized what it was had fallen into their midst.

I had seconds, if that, to act.

I jumped off the wall, casting [Summon Elephant Frog] during my descent. I had been saving it for a rainy day, and if there ever was a time to use it, it was now.

The frog’s impact cleared up some space, and I ran over to check on Drake who was thankfully still breathing, meaning my assessment that he had to have some kind of skill that saved him was correct. He was however, unconscious.

Now, to get back onto the wall, while keeping both of us safe…

I didn’t even need to tell the Elephant Frog to do what it did next - or give it any other signal of any kind. It just knew it through our mental connection - it knew that I was asking it to swallow the two of us.

I latched onto Drake tightly, and braced myself as we found ourselves inside the frog’s mouth after its tongue had wrapped around us. I held my breath - was it normal for a summoned creature to smell this much on the inside? It was uncomfortable both for us and for the frog, given that Drake was still wearing plate armor. If it had not been a summon it would’ve almost certainly spat the two of us out immediately. But with a sudden lurch, it leapt over the wall, spitting us out with expert precision onto the top, before it dived back down to take out as many of the enemy it could before it died.

I was covered in its disgusting saliva, and no doubt smelled bad, but I was able to finally take in a breath of fresh air, which was a huge relief.

[Create Water] and [Fragrance] would’ve been quite helpful here to clean the saliva and to stop me from smelling, but I had no mana for either of them.

Drake was definitely going to be mad at me for doing that, but I didn’t know how badly he had been injured, and wasn’t confident on getting him back up the wall without hurting him even more any other way.

“Help!” I yelled out. “The governor’s son - Commander Drake! He’s been injured! He needs a healer! I repeat, this is the governor’s son here and your commander!”

My shouting drew in someone who carried Drake away, presumably to a healer.

That whole little escapade had knocked what little energy I had out of me, and I lay there on the wall, panting and covered in frog saliva, hoping that Drake was safe.

Hardly the kind of thing you’d read about in a heroic epic…

I felt my connection to the Elephant Frog break after a few minutes, meaning it had been killed.

Mustering all of my strength, I drew myself up.

“Master Liberomancer - that side might be breached soon!”

“Master Liberomancer - if you have enough mana, we need someone to force them back over there with a [Grand Fireball]!”

"Master Liberomancer - are you in charge now?"

"Master Liberomancer - can you use that skill of yours with a spider again?"

“Master Liberomancer - where should the reservists be sent too?”

Voices assaulted me even as I felt my eyelids becoming heavy - and I realized what the problem was.

Drake was commanding this side of the wall. His second-in-command was a lizardman who was also out of commission for some reason, and I didn’t know who the third-in-command was. Neither did anyone else right now - and so, seeing the sash, and also how much time they’d seen me spending with him they assumed that I might be next in line.

“Alright, I’m not in command,” I spat out. “Someone send word to Zeke, he’ll find someone else to replace Drake, but for now, sure, I’ll handle things. First off, someone please splash water on me and clean this mess off my face.”

Someone obliged, casting a bucket of cold water on me none too gently - it was annoying, but at the same time refreshing and did give me a new burst of energy. I no longer felt like I was going to fall asleep any second now.

I cleaned my face. Though physically I was spent and sore all over, I now had enough magic for another spell, which I made sure to use to its maximum effectiveness as I cast it on the most desperate area of the wall.

Alright, some breathing room. “You, yes, over there! That’s where we need more forces. If there’s anyone with mana, they should target those two areas next. And send a runner to find out what’s going on with Drake!”

I barked out orders, not even sure of what I was doing, but trying to emulate Drake as much as I could.

By now I felt like I could collapse.

But there was still a job to do. The last hour of fighting felt longer than the hours that had come before it combined. Every minute dragged on longer than it should have - it was likely a very dumb decision on my part, but I ended up removing a good chunk of my armor other than the chestpiece. I just couldn’t do anything with the weight on me, and it was as I took some pieces of it off that I saw something.

It looked like… pages were bleeding out?

With a jolt, I remembered that I had been reading that grimoire that Zeke had given me that gave [Ansoon’s Blessing] even today, and when the dryads had started moving I had stashed it away for safekeeping in a pocket within my set of armor.

Only it looks like at some point, a spear or claw had gotten through my armor and ended up puncturing the grimoire - most of its pages had been torn through, and it was clearly unreadable now given how much it had been damaged.

I swore. Loudly.

I had spent the better part of a month whittling away at the thing, and was about three-fourths of the way done.

Only now, all that effort had been in vain! I had gotten this grimoire with great difficulty - this was the equivalent of losing more than a month’s worth of work!

In a way - I suppose I should’ve been happy, because the grimoire being punctured like this likely meant that it had softened or completely negated an incoming blow.

Still, I had no doubt that any Liberomancer who saw this site would weep, much like I felt like doing.

At some point, someone came, another Rank Three Liberomancer who was a lizardman who I vaguely recognized from that meeting I had to attended a while back. I couldn’t for the life of me remember his name, but he hurriedly approached me and said, “Master Liberomancer, I have been sent by Governor Lance to take command of this region.” It took me a moment to realize that he was actually asking for my permission to take command - despite being told this by the governor.

“Of course, thank you for coming.”

“Ah, and the governor also sends his thanks that you saved his son. Sir Drake has been heavily injured, but none of his wounds were fatal,” he continued. “He should make a full recovery, though the healers have to prioritize some others rather than him so it may take some time, but rest assured that he is stable…”

“Thank you,” I said, quite relieved. “Now if you’ll excuse me…” I found a well-sheltered area of the wall away from the frontlines, and dropped to the floor.

I was so exhausted at this point I felt like I couldn’t even lift a finger.

“Master Stefan! Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m not injured,” I said. “Just… can’t fight any longer…”

I’m not sure whether or not I passed out or fell asleep, but regardless of which one it was, the world went black.

I just couldn’t keep up any longer.

***

Great Claw watched with great disappointment as the sun went down.

Their all-out assault on the walls had been a mistake.

He had opined as such many times, but no one listened to him anymore.

After their failure at trying to flood the city, they had nearly cast him aside. He might as well have been exiled for the damage the dryads had taken from trying to build the dam. Even though it was not his fault!

His idea had been sound- it was the fault of those underlings for not being able to complete his project! They were useless hunks of bark with not a single coherent thought between a dozen of them! If only the others were as smart as he was, no, if they were even half as intelligent as he was, they would’ve succeeded and been feasting on human blood right now!

As a matter of fact, he had a feeling that some of his underlings might’ve damaged the dam on purpose. Yes… clearly they were envious of his brilliance and sought to undermine him! He would not put it past lesser creatures like normal dryads to do so.

And even if they had failed with the dam, they shouldn’t have given up after only one try and attempted another time. This idea of his, however, was shot down.

Yes, the others just did not share his foresight. There were other mistakes that had been made during this campaign. They should not have killed all of the humans that they came across - they should have taken some of them as slaves.

They would have been better workers - actually able to complete his grand vision! Not only that, but they could’ve used the humans as hostages or shields against the human’s magic. However, the ordinary dryads could not see beyond their thirst for blood and did not leave anything that they came upon alive.

Yes, it was the others to blame for not having the ability to carry out his vision.

Now, their numbers had been whittled down to less than half as their forces withdrew from the city walls, after having been unable to so much as dislodge a single stone. That was why he had warned those idiots against this idea! Now what were they to do?

Their army was broken now, and they did not have the numbers for another assault.

With the darkness now enveloping the world, they could do nothing but retreat for now. There was still no sign of the shadow that had led directed them here in the first place - it had clearly abandoned them, or even sent them all here as a trap! They had been foolish for following its directions.

Part of him wanted to feel joy, knowing that the others hadn’t succeeded in this assault and he had been right to say it was a bad idea all along, but what was the use of that? They had come here as a group, and would most likely be annihilated as a group as well. Saying ‘I told you so’ might feel good, but it would not do him any good.

He was left with nothing save for the bitter feelings in his heart.

He would have to run now, the only question was, where to?

A strange memory came to me while I was atop the wall.

It was a time when I had fallen asleep in the backseat of my car after a long trip. I had somehow magically found myself in my bed the next morning - though of course, there was no magic to it. My father had carried me there from the car.

And with that memory, my eyes jolted open. I wasn’t in bed - I was still on the hard floor - or rather ceiling, of the wall that surrounded Arconia.

How long had I been out? I took a look at the sky - it was dark now, but didn’t feel like anything longer than an hour had passed.

The fighting, thankfully, had stopped for now.

“Ah, Master Stefan! You’re awake!” the same Rank Three Liberomancer who had taken over for Drake said when he found me. “I was just about to have someone carry you somewhere safer - well, you already chose a rather nice place to take a nap safety-wise, but I wanted you even further away from the line of fire if possible.”

I immediately felt a deep sense of shame creep over me.

When I had been younger, I’d had fantasies, like all boys did, of fighting in some kind of intense battle against all odds. And hey, had it been in some fantasy world with swords and magic, it would’ve seemed even cooler in my mind.

In none of these fantasies was I lying on the floor, having passed out, and still reeking of the inside of a frog’s mouth.

I felt like a failure - when the fighting had gone tough, it had been too much for me, and I had ended up nearly blacking out. What kind of soldier was I? I knew that I hadn’t been trained for anything like that, but I had still wanted to somewhat distinguish myself in battle, or at least not embarrass myself.

What were they thinking of me right now? As a weakling who couldn’t handle stuff and passed out? And what’s worse, they might’ve even needed to get someone to take me away after I had passed out if I hadn’t come to like I was some sort of damsel.

“How long was I out for?”

“Just around twenty minutes or so,” he answered. “I had checked you for injuries earlier, and didn’t notice anything life-threatening, so I had held off on healing you. But, the fighting is over and they’ve retreated, allow me to fix your injuries.”

“No,” I said waving my hand. “My mana’s coming back, and I know a minor healing spell myself. I can take care of myself. Please go take care of those who are more badly injured.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

He didn’t leave right away though. “I just wanted to let you know, Master Liberomancer - I had harbored some doubts about your… position earlier. But upon seeing the valor that you displayed, risking your life to rescue Sir Drake… giving you that job was clearly the right choice! Already, tales of what you did have spread all over the wall.” He then bowed before moving on.

Once I felt like I had the strength to get up, I did. I took a glance across the horizon and saw the dryad army, now significantly smaller, out in the distance, moving away from the city. So it looked like we had really won…

The dryad army might try another assault, but they didn’t have the numbers to last very long anymore. If there was fighting in the future, it would not be as intense as it was today.

I didn’t feel like celebrating though. My stomach growled, and I found a place where they were serving food.

They let me skip to the front of the line upon seeing who I was - which told me that this was likely set up for normal soldiers only, but at this point I couldn’t care, and wolfed down whatever I had been given.

I then found my carriage and took a nap in there - at least this way people would know where I was if they wanted to find me.

I woke up early the next day, before the sun had even begun to rise. But, I felt refreshed, if not sore.

However, I would probably feel sore all over for at least the next week or so given how much I had exerted myself unless I used healing magic.

I must’ve looked - and smelled like crap, but wherever I went, people were in a jovial mood and while before maybe one in three to one in four people bowed on seeing me, it looked like that included everyone now. I wasn’t actually sure what to do now, had some instructions been given overnight on what we were supposed to be doing? Should I stay to man the wall further, or go home and take a bath?

My mana was almost full by now, so I felt if there was something I could do to make a difference, I may as well. With the enemy army seemingly broken, I could even use [Fish Haul] to make food if that was what was called for.

I didn’t have to wait for long though, as a messenger told me that Governor Lance wanted to talk.

It was probably about Drake - and I couldn’t help but think of several things I’d done wrong. For one, the armor I had rented out was damaged - and I would need to pay for its repair and any pieces I had lost. Two, I had passed out in the middle of battle - people didn’t seem to be too enraged at that as they chalked it up to ‘battle fatigue’ and overlooked it given the other things I had done, but Lance was probably going to give me an earful about it. Three, I had lost a very valuable grimoire in the fighting - though he would probably have no reason to be mad at that, after all, it was mainly my loss.

I cast [Fragrance] on myself and tried to clean up as much as I could with a wet rag before going to meet him. He wasn’t in his palace, but in a room on the interior of the wall.

“Good morning,” he said. He looked exhausted - he might’ve even been awake all night for all I knew. He had been fighting near the gate, where the battle had been even more intense than where I had been stationed from what I’d been told. If it was not for his [Inferno] the gate wouldn’t have held till now.

“Good morning,” I said weakly. “How is your son?”

“Doing well, thanks in large part to your heroism,” Lance replied, giving me a weak smile. He motioned for the guards and other officers in the room to leave, so that we were alone.

A chill crept down my spine - what was this about? I had thought that he either wanted to thank me or reprimand me, but neither of those things required any kind of secrecy.

“I wanted to speak to you in private,” Lance said. “First of all again, thank you for saving my son. I do not want you to think that I don’t appreciate all that you did for us. Your contributions during the fighting almost rivaled my own, especially with that unique tactic of yours involving the spider. They say you were responsible for the deaths of over six thousand enemy dryads in yesterday’s fighting alone. I can also appreciate that you performed your job as mediator very well in these past few weeks.” He then sighed; the smile from his face faded and was replaced by what was unmistakably a snarl. His demeanor changed considerably as his words carried a feeling of intense ire as he spat them out. “I do not however, appreciate you lying to my face!”