4:00 am - We began making our way through to the military encampment of the human army. The commander is the heir to the Empire (Currently 24 years old), he's currently present at the encampment of the human army as well.
The current numbers of the enemies is around 2000. There appears to be a slave unit that is attached to what appears to be an elite squad. It's headquarters is heavily defended with many guards posted to prevent intruders. They seem to have learned from our past attacks, their watch is near unbreakable this time around.
Our current forces stand at around 650 in total, 500 being a group of elite Elves that Father Elf himself leads.
There will be no prisoners of war this time, its a straight out full confrontation with us at the front. This time there are no grand tricks, there will be casualties.
First, we need to consider the time. The current conditions allow for sufficient darkness to use my Black Skeleton Knights. This can give us an advantage in the early engagement, I won't lose any magical power since I can absorb magic from the darkness in the surrounding areas. At present, the only sources of light are several bonfires and the like.
Therefore, it doesn't seem necessary for us to simply charge in blindly.
It seems that the Heir of the Empire has a similar code of ethics to my own, given that there is a slave unit present. It is led by an apparent tyrant who carries out various cruelties. Therefore, I decided it would be beneficial to dispatch a Black Skeleton Assassin with the sole purpose of eliminating this man. The description was given to me by the Rusty Iron Knight, apparently the Rusty Iron Knight was not fond of this man. Fine by me, three birds with one stone. Once this man is eliminated, we can use this slave unit to cause chaos amongst the enemy's forces since the one who holds the control of their slave collars would be eliminated. There is the possibility that these collars are similar to my own, in which case they may need to be removed. It also appears that this man employs the use of a Chimera, if it goes wild after it's master has been slain, then there wont be any need to slay the beast as well. Who knows, I may even be able to dominate the beast myself.
Hmm, such a thing should be considered, but I shouldn't be so certain that just because the master has been slain that the beast will sense his death and go on a rampage and attack all humans in the surrounding areas. If by chance it does, then the distraction can be used to remove the slave collars. The beast appeared to be some sort of mix of certain parts of an elephant, tiger, snake, and a crab to measure nearly 6 meters.
Its time to begin, the Master was slain, unfortunately it seems that the beast decided to just escape the area. I have to admit, that annoyed me greatly. Now that the slaves were free, we managed to gain additional numbers, though those that did not react immediately upon being freed were quickly slain by the elite squad presiding over them. The greater result of this first strike was that it removed a large quantity of the enemy's numbers and battle power. In addition, as the chaos over the slave rebellion ensued, I used my Black Skeleton Assassins to pick off individuals of importance. A few dozen humans were taken out without the humans noticing. But after awhile I decided that was enough time spent on this tactic. Therefore, we began the attack and the human encampment became an all-out battlefield.
The sun soon rose and the movements of the Black Skeleton soldiers began to degrade, soon the number of Skeletons destroyed began to increase steadily. Soon one of foolish human officers shouted out this obvious point to his men, it appeared to have an effect and their morale raised. The sun is now fixed in the sky and the Black Skeletons are now clearly visible. Even though they have lost a large amount of their effectiveness, I still want to delay a direct confrontation until it a suitable opening appears.
While the sun had risen, there was still enough darkness in the forest to absorb more magical power. With the fresh corpses created by my undead slaves, generating new Skeletons was a simple matter. A quick bite wasn't out of the question either, but creating a larger fighting force took precedence.
While their movement may have been impeded by the rising sun, their strength is nothing to laugh at, while slower, in the numbers I am able to generate, they are still able to cut down a great number of humans.
Since the Skeletons proved effective, to increase the time I am able to field them I decided to start to put more magical power into each one while also increasing their resistances. As a result the combat effectiveness of the Skeletons rose sharply. The cries of horror from the humans thinking that the Skeleton Knights were growing immune to the sun brought a certain pleasure to me as a grin broke out on my face. Needless to say, the increased strength of my Skeletons caused the enemy's morale to fall greatly. As one would imagine, as the battle grew on, the number of humans fighting my Skeletons continued to increase constantly. Even though this was the case, the fact that the Skeletons continued to pour into the fray would cause an unavoidable constant drain on morale.
Sadly I couldn't just rely on the Skeletons forever, as the number of humans increased, the sun continued to rise and the number of Skeletons started to drastically fall. At that note, I gave the word for all forces to attack in multiple locations. Ogakichi-kun took the front where the fighting was fiercest while the others took their respective locations. The fighting became fearsome across the field of battle. With each of our strongest taking up a flank, the human moral quivered for some time, but each time somehow managed to rally themselves and come back stronger. This wont be an easy fight, I already watched two Kobolds go down after getting overrun by the humans.
Hmm? I think I just saw some Goblins over there take out the Chimera, good for them, I look forward to eating it once the fighting is through.
As I was watching this spectacle, I glance at a sole enemy at the human headquarters. It maintained a constant gaze at the engagement. From the look of it, the human has an unusually good state of attack. I activated [Job-Sorcerer] to break the focus of the enemy. After I activated [Job-Assassin] and [Recognition Prevention] to hide my presence. Given that a large amount of strength is required, I decided to don the magic item [Hermit's Robe] as extra insurance to avoid detection.
This is all for approaching the Heir to the Empire and commander of the Human Invasion force. He wore a splendid suit of armor and carries the presence similar to my own. However, even while I am approaching, there is no killing intent. The reason for this is because if I were to kill the heir, it would make this conflict a personal war of vengeance for the Empire to avenge their lost Heir. This overall would be a bad situation and eventually the demise of the Elves as a result. I seriously need to avoid killing him, the scenario where the Elves and the forest being absorbed into the Empire must be avoided at all costs. With a vast increase in numbers, we would be easily crushed under foot.
I would prefer the ones in charge of the forest to remain the Elves given my good relations with them. Another reason to avoid going for the kill in this situation.
With all this considered, I quickly subdued the Heir. Drawing close to his ears, I give him directions to our location. While saying this, I slide a flask containing a red liquid into his pocket. I inform him that this is, in fact, the medicine that will be able to cure any illness. After saying this, I released him. Bowing his head as to show that he understood my intention. Following this, we separated to begin what had to be done next.
Since with this business was concluded. I called out to Asue-chan who creates a great clay wall which divided the two forces. This should be enough for the moment.
Before they manage to break their way through the clay wall, all of the bodies such as the chimera are collected. We gather up the injured as well as the survivors of what is left of the former slave unit's members and withdraw in a hurry. To be honest, I wanted to bring home as much meat as possible and have my fill, but for now, time is of the essence. Luckily, I took the time in the midst of the battle to partake in many things so for now, there are our prizes of war. Such as the chimera.
Sigh, patience is a virtue... Patience...
And so, we withdrew to the cave to treat the wounded. Since we requested a medical unit from the Elf Army when we were withdrawing, they arrived in a timely manner to aid in the treatment of the seriously wounded fighters. The rate of treatment greatly increased. Unfortunately, those that were slain on the field were not recovered because time did not allow it. All of our 100 man "Former" slave unit managed to return. All of our elves also returned fully intact with the exception of those that are still wearing the slave cuffs that I left behind with Potsun. Even though there should be no more violence, an extra level of insurance never hurts.
In total, for the first time in this war, there were casualties. A total of 20: 3 Hobgoblins, 2 Hobgoblin Mages, 5 Goblins, 6 Kobolds and 4 male Elves have died. It was a brutal dogfight, and the enemy's strength was nothing to laugh at. I can say that it is probably good fortune that our casualties were only this severe given the situation. Those who's bodies were recovered were given a proper ceremony and burning. Prayers were offered and there was a great level of emotion in the air, many tears were shed today.
While there is certainly sadness in the air, I can't really say that I personally was sad. Not a single tear came out either. However, as usual I live my life greedily to some e