The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 917: Battle Report

The Long House was like a military barracks, set up for a hundred people to sleep in, with a large open space in the centre, set up for a cooking fire.

Karl woke up the next morning to the usual sounds of his group in camp. Dana mumbling to herself as she shifted in his arms. Thor and Tessa preparing breakfast, Lotus trying to escape from Ophelia, and now Nachtia, laughing at the little Priestessʼ dilemma.

The black dragon waved at Karl as he sat up in bed. ”O really isnʼt a morning person, is she?”

Everyone awake shook their heads in solidarity.

”If she didnʼt have Lotus with her, she would sleep at least three more hours a day. But theyʼre basically a bonded pair at this point, so she puts up with the early morning wake-up calls.” Karl explained quietly.

Ophelia opened one eye, then ruffled Lotusʼ hair before tucking the little cleric back underneath her.

”Youʼre all too loud. We were up for two days and a night. Let me sleep.”

Tessa chuckled. ”Well, itʼs almost noon. If we donʼt have breakfast now, itʼll be lunch.”

They had slept from late afternoon until nearly noon the next day, and she was hungry.

The Orcs had brought them supplies at some point, as there was a basket of eggs by the door. But Thor had given her a large whale steak to fry, and there was a massive skillet full of what smelled like bacon grease, garlic and chopped potatoes.

Once that was frying, the smell was enough to rouse Ophelia from her slumber, and everyone got prepared for their dayʼs activities.

Priestess Delilah came inside, transformed into a middle-aged woman with hair as bright red as her robes, and a stern face that spoke of countless years dealing with children.

”Do you mind if I join you? There are some things to discuss this morning while the army is preoccupied.” The red dragon asked.

”Thereʼs always enough for more visitors. Sit where you like.” Tessa agreed.

Delilah picked a spot beside Nachtia, as she was alone on a bed, and got right to business.

”It seems that your premonition was right. The energy flows were a trap, and the arrival of the last wave of Totems was not a coincidence.

We have reports of twelve other attacks, all much smaller than the one that we endured, but all of them ended with either an undead plague curse or a group of Totems arriving on the scene the moment that the energy flow from the battlefields ended.

Unlike the others, it appears that we managed to attract an entire staging area to one spot.

That might not sound like a good thing, but I would contend that it was. We had three totems here, plus a strong support Overlord, to help deal with six Necromancer Lords.

The Bomgon nation took a heavy blow last night, with the loss of an entire Totem Ranked Necromantic Coven, and two ancients. Well, three if we consider the Vampire to be lost to them, though she is confirmed to be alive.”

Karl gave her a curious look. ”She has been confirmed alive already?”

Delilah nodded. ”Supreme Lady Matilda took her shopping in the late hours of last night. The Vampire has been imprisoned with magical cuffs that suppress her ability to transform, as well as some of her abilities. So, she is no longer considered to be a threat.

But more than that, the number of Totems that will support the Lord of the Undead is limited. There might be hundreds of them spread through the undead nation, but most have their own goals, and their own territories.

Getting them to move everything to the border for a foreign invasion under someone elseʼs control takes more than a simple command. Especially now that they have taken a large number of losses.

Of course, itʼs the same for the Demons, is it not? There is a Totem Ranked Chief in town, but they wouldnʼt and couldnʼt send the chiefs of every single village to the border, no matter how bad the attacks got.”

That made perfect sense. Even if they were creating an undead army, you couldnʼt take the leaders from every village in the entire nation into the army. Even conscription usually only took a portion of the Nobles, then conscripted kids from the families to fill the ranks of officers.

Tessa started to dish out breakfast as it was ready. ”So, are we expecting more attacks today? How did the other battles go?”

Delilah sighed. ”Well enough. The Bomgon army inflicted three Totem Ranked losses upon the Bomgon Army for every Totem they lost, not counting our group. But some villages suffered extensive damage before the attackers were repelled.

At the moment, the Lord is more concerned about what caused this recent bit of aggression. There are some obvious clues, but Lord Bomgon hasnʼt officially said anything or made any demands.”

That did sound strange. You didnʼt usually start a large-scale invasion without some sort of motivation or demands. Unless they were getting overpopulated and needed more space, in which case the answer was that they were just planning to fight until they either gained enough land or lost enough troops.

”Well, if there is no clear reason or target, all we can really do is wait for them to attack again. Thatʼs nearly the worst situation for the border villages, just waiting to see if theyʼll be wiped out one day. But I suppose itʼs worse for the army.” Karl replied.

Delilah nodded. ”Exactly. Theyʼre spreading out again so that they donʼt leave too large of a region exposed to attack, but itʼs just a guessing game where the attacks will land, unless we get some sort of divine inspiration.”

Beside her, Nachtia chuckled. ”I suspect that we wonʼt need much divine inspiration to guess that they will attack us again. After yesterdayʼs battle, both the Red and Black Dragons were pleased with our performance.

The undead army wonʼt stand for that.

So, I suspect that wherever we go, we will be attacked again soon. The only thing that would stop it would be to go to a city too large and heavily defended for them to launch another full-scale attack on us.”