NOVPUB742: Operation Arid Soil : Part Fifty-Three
742: Operation Arid Soil : Part Fifty-Three
The time of Watchful Undeviginti as sovereign passed without any problem, Ir’Houwl had successfully fooled the one-eyed sun that she and her soldiers were not an awful threat to the desert, and thanks to this exchange, she had learned quite a bit about the nature of each of the five suns, all in all, that was a very productive exchange.
Ir’Houwl would still have to worry about it once she began to invade more cities, as the next time it showed up and realised that the undead had expanded their territory and either masscred or subjugated the livings, it would probably, accurately, see them as a threat to the order of the desert.
In any case, that time would take a little while to come back, she watched as the watchful one closed its eye and faded back into a radiant ball of flames, she gathered her contracted troops once again, including the monster tribes, after thinking about it some more, the minor decided to first begin by making the livings believe two things at once :
That the good old trio was back in town by having them lead the assault on the city at first and allow a handful of non-combatants to escape to spread the news, and also that the monster tribes had united, namely the desert orcs and molochites, which would be led, or at least appear to be led, by the giant, which was currently being ‘taught’ how to properly follow orders and do things as it was not smart enough to understand how to sign a contract, so to ensure that things would not go south by just forcing him to write something it did not comprehend and thus, would not bind him as well as the humans. 𝔫𝔬𝖛𝖕𝔲𝖇.𝖈𝖔𝖒
“The plan is relatively simple, my undead soldiers will be disguised so that they appear like livings to the people, they will take care of all the towns surrounding the city, all striking at once… As for you, my living warriors- You will lay assault directly upon the city, or rather, you will march in front of the entrance to the city and bait a confrontation”
“Undeads will be hidden amidst you, including some of my elites, scouts will be travelling beneath the sand and will ensure that only non-combatants are allowed to escape whilst all arm-bearers and above are either captured, or slain… Keep in mind that getting them alive is currently more beneficial, as terrible as it sounds, we can yet turn anything into undeads, so do feel free to slaughter the rest of the civilians, with some luck, this battle will mark a turning point and all of the deceased people and creature will be able to receive our blessing”
“But it might not be the case, so as horrible as it must be for you people, try to stay alive, try to survive this battle…”
“In any case, here are finer details” Ir’Houwl put both hands behind her back as the Osla rolled a wooden board in front of the crowd, which had been plastered with all kinds of information on paper made from the ashen trees.
“The city has exactly thirty-six arm-bearers, fifteen are of Watchful Undeviginti, twenty-one of Prime Undeviginti, and the city’s solar temple is inhabited by one Ersta’la of each faith, whilst your own number are one Ersta’la of Illusory Undeviginti, eight arm-bearers of Illusory Undeviginti, one arm-bearer of Cleansing Undeviginti, one arm-bearer of Sanguine Undeviginti and about thirty non-vapour warriors shared in between the butchers and heretics” she said, the odds if the livings were alone for this did not look too good.
An Ersta’la had to be a crop above arm-bearers of the same worship, and they only had one, which was of the weakest of the five in direct combat.
Meritites could hit hard on account of being cleanser, but that was nothing weird for an arm-bearer of the butchers, and whilst Benerib was definitely a skilled warrior with her sickles, that alone probably wouldn’t be enough to bridge any gap.
But thankfully, they were only a diversion, they could their own enough and cause enough of a commotion for at least some people to try and run away, especially with Ir’Houwl had cooked up as part of the plan.
And it didn’t take long for the minor lord to get this plan moving forward, right now, Prime Undeviginti was once again ruling over the desert’s sky, so once the heat was bearable enough for the livings to move around, they set off.
The plan’s first part was simple, the monster tribes were sent ahead, made to cause trouble to one of the towns, without the giant’s presence however, merely the orcs and molochites, the latter being the monstrous and somewhat humanoid version of those lizards covered in horns.
Just enough that the one or two arm-bearers within the town could not handle it by themselves and would have to ask for assistance from the city, if some of the warriors were gone, it would create the impression that the attack had been decided precisely to take advantage of it, which was correct, but also wrong to assume that this was all that there was to it.
This part of the plan went without a hitch, well, a few of the monsters died, but that wasn’t really something unexpected, the second part was simply for the group of contracted livings to approach the city’s entrance, Cheops, Meritites and Benerib standing in front like the boss of some sort of mob, from there, it did not take long at all until both of a large group of arm-bearers and unarmed warriors showed up, no signs of the Ersta’las anywhere, which was within expectation as the higher-ranking livings tended to not come out of the solar temple to fight unless necessary, and in truth, it did not look necessary at all right now.
Still, the fact that they didn’t show up when the three other faiths joined up together was certainly a peculiar choice.
“What do we have here?”
“A bunch of ragtag wanderers, is what I am seeing!”
“If you want to keep your lives, you better back away”
A few of the city’s arm-bearers spoke up, and Cheops shook his head, that last sentence was a very unfortunate one, that guy was lucky that the undeads knew how to keep themselves from laughing, as to them, it sounded more like an offer to not leave at all.
“Silence, you have no say in what’s going to happen next” spoke the illusory Ersta’la, and the closest arm-bearers frowned, although they weren’t worried about the outcome of the battle, quite a few were worried that an Ersta’la was facing them, his illusions could easily get a few of them killed at least.
“Heheh, don’t drop your weapons, alright?
I want to kill as many of you as possible!” Meritites chimed in, clenching the pommel of her sword as stood with both hands upon it like a proper knight guarding a sacred ground.
Benerib just stayed silent, and both sides just stared at one another for a few seconds until the sound of a blast occurred within the city.
“Filthy cowa-” an arm-bearer of the watchful one cursed, realising that some of the enemy had infiltrated the city, but he did not get to finish as his head was sent soaring through the air by the swing of a sickle.
All hell broke loose.
