Elafer, he was running away accidentally waking up a young elgar. It started to chase him, the fairy following him guiding his path. But the elgar kept on smashing trees down, despite the tall thick trees it still tumbled from the elgar.
"Where are weee!!?" Elgar said in a panic.
The fairy tinkled, Elafer showed a confused face, "what do you mean a ledge!?"
Before he can react he almost tripped over a very slope edge off a hill. He looked at the fairy, "are you trying to kill me? What the fuck are you doing!?"
He turned around to see the Elgar ready to ram to him, with a second to react Elafer managed to dodge the attack in the nick of time. The Elgar then tumbled down the slope hill rolling towards a pile of bushes and trees.
Elafer dropped on the muddy dirt panting like a dog, he slowly pushed his head up from the dirt. He looked at the fairy hovering above him, "I owe you one little guy.."
ETHERDALE TOWN
5:21PM
"Thy majesty? What seems to be the problem?" The mayor of the town asked Molt.
"Many, many, problems as a matter of fact.. i am very worried for the Civil war its still raging, and the Harkan's ruthless of their advance."
"Ive heard every empire besides yours and Italica have waged war against the Harkans."
"People are joyful that we're fighting back.. but i dont see the reason why we should be ecstatic about it. To think that more than 5 empires have to join together to stop a single empire's army from advancing further goes to tell how terrifying the Harkans are."
"I- i never thought of that..."
"No one does." Molt sips a cup of liquor, "i have other things to worry aswell. My daughter would be more than worried about my current situation and would likely force to send soldiers to cross the Harkan border."
The Mayor replied with silence letting Molt continue, "Piña's rose order fighting the Harkans is a great way to loose an entire legion fast. I know those men and women never seen combat at its bloodiest."
"Why hasn't the men in green saved you yet? Aren't you an important figure to them?"
"That's because they dont know where i am, and i cant tell them where im at. Sending a messenger across the Harkan controlled lands is the best i can do to tell the marines."
"Marines?.."
"Their actual name.. not the men in green."
The mayor nodded, "and who's that messenger you've sent?"
"Elafer, a dwarf, he's intelligent but rather unlucky at times, im just hoping he'll arrive sooner than later.."
EASTERN FRONT
53RD HILL
"Hold the line!" Said a Harkan officer.
"Take aim! 1st line kneel!" He continued before a short pause, "Ready!.. Fire!"
A volley of bullets shattered the opposing legion, their front line of shields suffered minimal casualties. In return the Knight yelled out, "Archers!!"
The archers stood behind the shield wall while the swordsmen took a step back, "Draw!" Yelled the knight again for the archers to draw their bows.
"Loose!!" As he yelled the order a volley of arrows rained down on the Harkan enemy.
Their arrows proven no use, the mage's shields gave protection to the enemy legion. It forced the opposing army to start to make use of the orc's most valuable weapon in terms of getting rid of the pesky shield barriers.
The shield buster started to roll behind the legion, siege engineers quickly got to work on setting up the weapon. It was similar to a catapult but with a shorter range, reasonable for the projectile it throws.
The only thing the magic barrier is not resistant to is magic, a substance covered a spiked boulder that will nullify the shield barrier for it to easily break under the weight of the projectile.
"Ready!" Yelled out a 2nd knight behind the line of shield busters.
"Loose!" He said the order, one siege weapon then another started to throw the projectile towards the shield barrier. Its nullifying powers immediately kicked in weakening the shield dome, it was also noticed by the mages witnessing the shield fluctuate a bit.
Confused by what could potentially be causing the fluctuation, but their answer was clearly above them hurdling down. Before the Harkans can think of a way their shield dome was broken by the heavy spiked boulders that crushed multiple swordsmen and pikemen to a dark red pulp.
"The shield is down! We're exposed!" Said a Harkan.
"Shields! In front!" Yelled a Harkan officer.
Marching towards the front line covering the musketeers the shield bearers formed a strong line with the small holes for the muskets to poke at. Their timing and training was fast, enough for the archers to fail their attempted attack.
"Loose!" Said the knight of the opposing legion.
Arrows were shot but the musketeers were left unharmed and the front line resisted the attack.
"Fire!" A harkan officer yelled.
A fierce volley fired at the opposing army, the shields of their soldiers were too weak to even resist the bullets of the muskets. Many fallen immediately once shots rang the entire battlefield.
"Sire!" A young swordsman ran towards the Knight, "if we continue fighting we'll suffer mass casualties!"
"We cant let this hill be belonging to the enemy! Reinforcements are coming we must prevail the attack!"
"But sire-"
"-silence! i have sent an envoy to the other legions, they will arrive here as soon as things are hopeless."
Hopeless it was, barely a wound was formed on the Harkan legion, they were formidable. The previous legions that were sent by the Harkans is a way to buy them time to get the more trained and experienced legions to arrive at the eastern side.
And it didn't took them a week for their presence to be known. Their elite legions are yet to show their faces but the legions sent here would pretty much do some damage. Zorzal was the leading strategist to counterattack this "attempt" on trying to get rid of the Harkans off Falmart.
The massive team up against the Harkans made it to the townspeople and they began to panic if Falmart was about to fall and be held by chains by the Harkan empire. Barely a few have faith that the empires would succeed in kicking off the Harkans, because all they did was slowing their advance and not stop it at all.
But this is what their intended purpose of going to war anyways. The monarchs never revealed their reason why for their decision of waging war against the Harkans. Only assumptions are made by their government but a clear answer was never given, its the only way to not let the Harkans get close to the idea that they're slowing them down for a reason.
Who knows what Zorzal would do if he found out the reason. Even though commonly seen being childish and reckless, he sometimes shows good decision making when it comes to planning out an attack or an ambush. He won far many battles with his army, he bragged about it, and the fame he used to gain more confidence of his plans.
The coalition kept loosing land, all, besides the 53rd hill. The last standing stronghold surrounded by alot of Harkan controlled land. Their only way was death, the other legions couldn't save them, it was a fight to their death. And this day was unlike any other for these soldiers who are poorly supplied from the cut off supply route.
Its another battle, another bloodshed, another man die and his body layed rest on mother nature's green hands. Their only chance of winning in hand to hand combat is with the help of a group of 700 orc warriors cut off from their legion unable to get help.
That number dropped significantly down to 550 orc warriors after a sudden surprise counterattack. Many feared soon will be their last day on Earth, when the air units have arrived and achieve air supremacy all hell will be let loose. And will they be laughing at the thought they'll die a painless death in this situation.
"March forward.." the knight said with a face of determination.
But for the others, they showed a dreadful and fear filled face after knowing what might happen next.
"Sire! Their forces can greatly cut numbers to us. We cant march forward."
"We're pushing them back away from the hills, its the only way, we cant use the siege weapons no more, not for the time being."
The 2nd in command seemed to hesitate to confirm the order, but he inevitably had to obey the Knight's orders, "March forth, Shields at the ready!"
The shield bearers started marching with pace, even though they knew their shields are nothing against harkan muskets they were still determined to get close to them.
The Harkan officer quickly picked up what they were trying to do, "Muskets at the back, Shields stay where you are, Spears take cover behind the shield wall."
They stopped firing at the approaching enemy, the Harkans were preparing for a hand to hand combat. The swordsmen fall behind the spearmen when the time the shield wall has been breached.
Cavalry was not available at this moment so both sides had to take it slowly. But the Harkans have the advantage in numbers, 2 harkans to 1 of their enemy.
But, the Knight has one last trick up his sleeve. But its a costly one, explosive arrows. The tip of the arrow dipped in an explosive potion and covered in a thin layer of some substance that wont cause the arrow to suddenly and violently explode inside the archer's quiver.
It was their last way, the mana shield didn't form again much to the confusion of the other side. They expected the Harkans to quickly charge up that spell again but they might've gone too comfortable on their skin to fight them in melee combat.
"Ready for a fight!" The Harkan officer yelled.
The Knight on the opposing side whispered an order to the 2nd command, it was later given to the archers for them to sneakily pass by the other troops and behind the shield wall. The small holes made were just enough for the arrows to pass through and they waited for the order to arrive.
Both sides met 10 feet apart from each other face to face, both wondered who will make the first move. But that was taken by the Knight's side, an unexpected move for the Harkans as he yelled out, "LOOSE!"
and without time to even process, a volley of arrows pierced the shields cracking the seal and released a violent explosion. In unison the arrows exploded causing injuries in the dozens on the Harkan shield wall breaking formation.
"MARCH FORTH! ATTACK!" Yelled the knight.
The shield wall march forward, the unexpected attack caused disarray on the first line of the Harkan legion. But quickly the commanding officer immediately sent the swordsmen to buy time for the musketeers to rush infront.
"Get to the first line! Buy time for the musketeers!"
"Sir! We need reinforcements, our numbers will dwindle! They have the advantage of more melee units we might be overwhelmed!"
"Keep the morale up, sound the horns to alert of our problem to the other legions quickly!"
"Will be done sir!"
As the swordsmen tried to slow down the marching with anything they could use, the musketeers reloaded their rifles to cause mass casualties on the enemy side. Behind the legion were the drummers preparing to sound the horns, these horns make a loud sound that alerts any nearby legion that they need their help.
A faster and more efficient way to send a message to nearby legions, the horn was blown and the coalition legion startled by the rumbling sound of the horns. They were confused, thinking it was some war cry, but they continued on attacking the legion.
"Retreat back! Dont let them inside the formation!" Said the officer.
On the coalition side.
"Sire! We can't send the swordsmen out, our numbers will be cut!"
"They're retreating back to reinforce their shield wall! We have no other choice but to take the opportunity! Send the swordsmen to the front!!"
And the bloody battle turned more bloody, when the shield wall lifted their shields up to let the swordsmen attack the Harkan swordsmen.
"For the empire!" Shouted a war cry, they started running towards the Harkans with sheer determination despite they'll die doing it.
And the clash of swords began, "Die!" Shouted a swordsmen as he bashed his sword on a Harkan.
Both sides started to fight gruesomely, one Harkan plunged a sword down his enemy's head while a coalition soldier cut open the throat of a Harkan swordsman. The shield bearers who were still alive and breathing were eventually suffocated to death from them being relentlessly stomped by boots of their enemies and allies.
Another sword plunges deep into his enemy, another head flies over, and men screaming desperate to survive this bloody battle. Both the Knight and the Harkan officer saw the bloody hell their soldiers are experiencing. Their muskets have proven futile in this situation as they will risk killing their own men.
The officer turned behind to look at the mages, "you know what to do! Kill them all!"
And the mages immediately went to action, with the current fight being very crowded and a mixture of enemy and friendly troops all they can do is to engage the enemy legion where they were standing idle for their next move.
The worst mistake the knight failed to acknowledge is that they were basically left vulnerable for magic attacks. And they realized it too late when fireballs come hurling down from above.
"Watch out!" Said the Knight before his men were flung or set on fire by the fireballs. Those directly hit turned into mist from the intense shockwave.
Many took casualties and it was only going to get worst from here, the coalition began taking a bad beating from the Harkans and their numbers were cut half. It was a no guarantee victory and the Knight can see it clearly after the shields he was hiding behind revealed to him the burning aftermath of the attack.
His men crawled while screaming in agony, he can see his swordsmen getting skewered by the Harkans. They were completely overwhelmed, their archers couldn't even make any drastic changes. And it was proven even more when another Harkan legion was confirmed to be marching towards them by a scout seeing overhead on a tall hill.
"Sire! We cant win! This battle is done! We need to retreat!"
"We can't loose the hill! Reinforcements are coming we need to hold as much time as we can!"
"Sire!" The 2nd command opened the hatch of his helmet showing his face filled with hopelessness, "the reinforcements wouldn't be able to break through, we need to get out, the ground around us will get thicker with Harkan troops covering every corner of it. We cant win.. the hill is theirs."
The Knight ran his hand through his face before throwing his sword at the enemy screaming, "I cant loose this hill.. i cant.."
"Sire.. we will die. This is not a war to defeat the Harkans. This is a war to slow them down. We are not here to win, we need to go."
The knight realized it but he remained silent deciding which he wanted to do, he let out a sigh before he ordered, "RETREAT!!"
"RETREAT!" Another man yelled, the others caught on and began yelling the same word. The legion that was suppose to hold 53rd hill until the reinforcements have arrived have failed their mission. The historical landmark fall into hands of the Harkans.
Their only way out of 53rd hill was slowly being sealed shut. But thankfully the other legions have successfully slowed down the Harkans enough for the legion to start marching quickly out of this location.
Everyone started running, they left the battle for their Harkans to shout in victory, 53rd hill is finally theirs and the coalition left with another defeat in the line of defeated battles in this war.
The Knight can see behind him the Harkans celebrated their victory while they ran away in defeat, he wondered what the other legions could be doing in the other locations of the eastern side..
THE NEXT DAY
EASTERN FRONT
HENDAL GROVES
11:34AM
Ever since the fall of 53rd hill it has enraged many of the coalition armies and they started fighting ferociously. The orcs have their fair share of fighting, Hendal groves are a no exception finally showing how strong they are in combat after their last real battle against the men in green that happened a long time ago.
"Crush these Harkans! I dont want any living walking around our homeland!" An orc general said, his face grinned as his fellow warriors charged for a fight.
But the Harkans have something special that empires struggled to have, they are capable of fighting effectively against different races, elves, orcs, dwarves, or even the goblins since they are considered an intelligent species despite they have low IQ.
They were trained to take down orcs, even if they will take casualties. Not with the use of melee combat, but an unexpected ambush from above. The warriors charged ahead with the face filled with determination, lifting their axes or halberds. They were war addicts always craving violence, and this was no exception.. until they met the biplanes..
"Woah!" An orc gasped.
Stakes dropped down exploding nearby or directly at the running orcs causing mass casualties and cause mass disarray. But their strength proved them that they are still capable of fighting like a well oiled machine. They threw the short axes at the Harkan musketeers who failed to reload in time.
Short axes for the orcs, but they were big in size for the normal humans or elves. The large blade sliced through the head of a harkan musketeer before it stopped slicing the chest of the Harkan behind him. Double kill, the biplanes failed to slow them down.
But this was not a Harkan legion, they may have ground troops but they solely rely on their air troops that greatly outnumber their ground troops. And they came from the blimp named "Valhalla", what the US military would consider a multi-role blimp since its both an aircraft carrier, the aircraft in question are wyverns, and also an attack aircraft since it also has a multitude of weapons for ground but very little for air.
The Valhalla is the first blimp to technically arrive to battle even if its 12 miles away from the eastern front. But its 115 wyvern force proved that it can still be a threat even if its far away. The Valhalla was currently in route to the eastern front along with the 1st ever elite Harkan legion to arrive aswell.
A 30 strong wyvern force was sent to get rid of the orcs, this small orc legion was spotted by a scout 3 hours ago and the order was given recently. The wyverns are getting near the fight, but right now the orcs are having the advantage in strength.
KURKDUN FOREST
The elves and dwarves, despite having a both negative and positive relationship had to set aside their differences and worked together, along with the other races. But the elven legion took care of the Harkans in Kurkdun forest.
Elves and forests are a great combo, the elves live in the forests and are comfortable with their fighting styles in those places. They fight in style, they use the trees as cover or to hide in, the tree branches they use to maneuver around the battlefield, and they are deadly accurate with bows but lack in skill with melee since they are not fond with that fighting style.
The Harkans met the Elven legion and without hesitation the Elves started firing their arrows at the Harkans. The shields blocked the arrows without casualties. But this was only to deter the enemy from advancing making the rest of the elves to start gaining ground and surround the Harkans.
The musketeers fired back, they killed only a minimal of the elves. The elves that mastered the art of jumping over one tree to another have put their training to use. But this is not the time their skills are put to the test, a threat lures with colorful bright lights.
And in a moments notice the elves who were jumping each tree branch dodging Harkan musket fire from below were unexpectedly had their limbs or their entire body flown off to the ground. The mages unleashed a devastating spell, an explosive orb that follows only one target, despite it can only target one person having a line of mages casting the spell can up the lethality of the spell.
Its explosion is small but strong, able to rip a limb from its target or fling him or her to a wall. The elves were shocked after half of their elite troops died in a blink of an eye, and it wasn't long for them to know that a second attack will commence.
The elves have met a match, even the trees cant help them, but what they have that the other races dont is to be able to cast magic without the use of a crystal. They are the crystal, but this is a limited power, not all spells are able to be used like the fireball since it burns their hands to a crisp.
Mana shields are also not an option as since the things being impacted against the mana shield receive the kinetic energy along with it and its transferred to the crystal used, simply if the force is too much the crystal will know to break the spell before it receives too much of the force exerted inside. Elves Don't know how to do what the crystal can do, the mana shield will break when bullets kept punching it, and so will their arms implode in the inside after receiving so much kinetic energy.
Their best bet are non-heat and non-cold spells, that's why they study the form of elemental magic especially the earth type as its also directly correlated to nature-themed magic, commonly used by druids and elves.
The elves are less powerful in terms of nature magic compared to druids, but they are lethal at it. The elven mages took the front of the legion, the Harkans also made their move to put their muskets back infront and the mages 2nd in line.
Right as the word "FIRE!" came out of the Harkan's officers mouth the bullets shot out of the muskets were eventually blocked by a wall of tree roots that was just enough to slow down the bullets for it to just roll out of the roots. It eventually deteriorated after 5 seconds, but it was both an intimidating and strong defense for the elves, only for that short period after the mages counterattacked the elves.
Green misty spikes flew through the air casted by the Harkan mages, but the elven mages swished their hand left and right before in unison pointed both their arms at the incoming spikes. And as they conjured the spell the tree branches thickened and rapidly grew blocking the sun and the attack all together.
It was a short spell that barely take out enough mana, and they have many to preserve. They used one of their strongest spell, a spell to summon a tree golem. As the Harkan mages waited as they feel the mana charging up the elven shield bearers marched infront of the elven mages to cover them while they summoned the golem.
The muskets fired killing alot of elven shield bearers but they blocked them from harming the mages as the roots underneath them began to form feet, then to legs, and so on..
FERN PLAINS
In Fern plains. The best duo of all races, the normal humans, and the dwarves. Both are well known to fight alongside each other rather than fighting against each other. The dwarves brought their siege weapons that been laying in their weapon storage for a long time.
Terradinium, and their 2nd favorite ore, mithril. They turned them into weapons resistant to any attacks, their siege weapons rolled onto the scene. Not only they designed it be very dangerous and lethal, they made it very intimidating as it was a popular trend for them to usually put drawings of scary monsters or symbols on their machines.
Unlike traditional machines using oil, they use magic as their fuel source. Same fuel used by the Harkan biplanes, the dwarven machines rolled onto battle with giant hogs pulling it forward. Some machines use a magic propellant potion to make them less heavy to be pulled forward, they cant independently move on their own unless its a very leveled flat land.
The humans, basically make up the majority of the coalition army since most empires are human and they are well known to be as skilled in melee like an orc and skilled in archery almost to an elf but the elves are always superior in archery compared to any race, the humans just come close to 2nd place.
The dwarves first weapon to show was inspired by the Al khazar army's hwacha, but instead of the hwacha having a wooden slab violently slamming with alot of force at the arrows. The dwarf version of it is actually more accurate to the korean hwacha 15th century in the modern world in its history. But instead of it being a rocket flinging the arrows to their target and make a violent explosion this version is propelled by using what exists in the modern world, steam.
The siege machine is also a furnace boiling up water for it to form steam, its placed behind the arrows blocked by a door mechanism. Once the steam starts to be very pressurized the metal door then opens causing the pressure to released and propel the arrows, the arrows in question are explosive ones.
Its very bulky and complicated shape and its weight having to need big hogs to pull them makes up for its devastating firepower. It fires 30 arrows at the enemy, its very lethal with the cost of mobility and time to fire the weapon again as each arrow has to be manually be reloaded.
Once the dwarf chief, the commander of a dwarven legion, walked infront of the siege weapons he waited for the Harkans to march forward. And they did, not only with footmen, but with Zorzal's finest work of art used against the men in green, though it proved weak compared to the men in green's iron ogre.
The corrupted ogre..
DELOW MOUNTAINS
An air fight is happening, both wyverns of the coalition, and the Harkan biplane and wyvern armies. Sent by the 2nd biggest blimp of the Harkan army inside Falmart named "Bell" named from the current Harkan queen Bell De Eberaz, but when her death comes the blimp will be renamed by the next queen.
The blimp was 2nd to the Valhalla rushing towards the eastern front. And it so happens to cross over a coalition group of wyverns around 45 in numbers to unleash a surprise attack at the next legion to arrive at the front.
A Harkan wyvern chomps on a wyvern rider ripping his top body in half vertically letting intestines and some body parts flew out of his dangling body. The wyvern he was on didn't survive aswell as it was being killed by two Harkan wyverns taking turns biting the poor wyvern to death.
It was a bloody rain of blood and guts, fire ignited the air as the coalition wyverns tried to burn the biplanes but their attention keeps shifting to the harkan wyverns who didn't let any of them attack the biplanes. The biplanes were helping out their wyverns firing at the coalition wyverns, while some of its stakes missed those who got hit received a devastating blow.
It is gory for both sides, a head gets crushed, an eyeball falling and landing on another wyvern rider's saddle. A harkan getting his right arm chomped off but still kept on fighting, a wyvern trying to fly while being gutted alive by another wyvern, it was just the most disturbing, gnarly, and bloody battle of this day.
NORTH FALMART SEA
45KM OUT OF DELKON BEACH
The war was not only just a ground and air war, it was also devastating on the blue seas of the special regions. But this time, the Harkans have the greater upper hand since their navy has the best of the best ships. Their ship of the line are more bigger, and bigger means more canons to fit in.
And the coalition is having a hard time sinking even one fleet..
The captain of the fleet felt the air, he looked at the flag above his ship and felt confident to shout the next order to his crew, "Set the sails!" He yelled.
His crew moved, he looked infront of his ship with his binoculars, its the Harkan fleet they were told to hold down their advance and wait out the other fleets to push the Harkan fleet away.
The sails dropped down and the next command was shouted by the captain, "Haul the bowline!"
The sails are tightened gaining speed towards the Harkan fleet, "Run out the Guns!" The Captain said after the previous order was finished.
The canons are being ready, but without the canon balls, not yet, they were still bringing the magic charge. Each command yelled out by the captain, a trained crewman blew on a loud horn, a way to communicate to the other ships on the fleet.
The Canons are being secured as the ships formed from the previous wedge formation to a line formation. A total of 15 ships against a Harkan fleet of 14 ships, a ship less than the coalition fleet.
The captain looked upon as the ships become bigger, more bigger than his ship alone. And his ship was the Flagship, the biggest of the fleet. But the ship of the line from the Harkans are bigger in size, and worst of all for the coalition ships, its firepower.
The canons of the coalition ships are 24 each side making a total of 48 canons per ship, the ship of the line laughs at these numbers, with a total of 120 canons or more in its arsenal with one or two mage to make it even more lethal and powerful.
The coalition has a bad feeling about the fight, even if they have more ships, the Harkan ships have the advantages. The captain looked behind him, they too have mages but they're weaker than the Harkan mages. Its the best they can offer since the empires already have trouble with their budget because of this war while the Harkans are doing alright, but not in the best shape.
Time passes by, the wind made it shorter, the captain saw the other ships making distance for the next step of their attacking phase. And once they were in range of the canons the captain ordered the horn to be sound and he yelled at the person handling the wheel, "HARD TO PORT!!"
"HARD TO PORT! AYE!"
The horn played the harmony, its the sound to turn the ship to port side for the canons to face the enemy.
"LOAD THE SHOT!" The captain then shouted.
Below the crew lifted the heavy canon balls and loaded the canons while another crew member started priming the canon and ready the explosive powder, a form of the explosion magic that is more easier to store rather than its liquid form.
After the ships turned to port side, the Harkans kept continuing to advance much to the confusion of the captain. But he can't be questioning in the middle of a battle, wether the enemy is fighting or not.
He looked at his crew, they were ready to pour the powder down the canons and fire. And so he ordered the final command, "PRIME AND FIRE!"
"Prime and fire!" His words repeated by a crew member.
The next was the horn blown once and let it echo, a sign to fire all of their canons on the right side.
The canon was poured with the powder, and the way they ignite the powder was to drop a liquid, a potion specifically used to detonate powdered magic potions. And the ignition was set, the canons fired in unison.
All 24 canons per ship on the starboard side fired, and 24 canon balls unleashed towards the approaching the Harkan ships. Despite some of the ships glowed purple when the mana shield broke effectively blocking most of the canon balls but the rest landed a hit or a miss.
The wooden planks of the bow of the ships flung down the sea for it to float or sink. A devastating attack but shockingly the fleet was still continuing their advance. The Captain was confused before but now he's very much confused.
But before he realized what he was trying to do, it was too late to even take action. The Harkans are advancing behind each ship, the back of the coalition ship is the part where it was less guarded and defended.
And since the canons are short ranged compared to the canons on the ground the Harkans have enough time to almost get behind the coalition ships and just enough for their enemies not having enough time to make a move.
"MOVE BACK!" The captain said, but that will take some time, and no time was enough as the 20 foot tall large Harkan ship towered over the small Flagship of the captain.
All hell broke loose the moment the Harkan ships got behind the coalition ships, they fired their own canons. And the Captain felt his entire ship shake slowly, the other ships of the fleet experienced the same attack.
It made a large hole behind the back of the Flagship exposing the crew inside. And with enough time the Harkan ship sent out their musketeers to start firing at the panicking crew who couldn't do much but throw swords.
The coalition fleet turned out to be the one that suffered alot of damage, the captain failed his predictions, the Harkan naval tactics were far more different than what he usually sees for years of combat on the seas. He can see canon balls piercing through the upper deck of his ship while his men panicked.
He started to worry if this battle was his last, but if it was, he wasn't going down without a fair fight. "HARD TO PORT!" The captain yelled, and the horn was sound even if they were being attacked and overwhelmed.
The crewman turned the wheel as much as he could. The ships turned as much as it can even if its back was damaged and left with many holes and dead men dangling over the edge. They fired the port canons at the Harkans just in time they were in the line of fire without even needing the order to be heard.
The entire crew worked independently in this moment, but the captain played his part, he knows eventually Harkans will start manning his ship and he has to watch out from that eventual attack. The other ships started to working independently and relying on the 2nd in command that is stationed on each ship rather than the main command on the flagship.
It was a bloody battle on the north sea, and many souls lost for the coalition but none for the harkan ships despite the previous attack. All seen by a single E-2 Hawkeye, the pilot confirmed around 25-30 ships are currently engaging in this part of the sea.
The aircraft carrier that sent the E-2 was not the nimitz, that ship was on the south sea, it was the newly arrived USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) 650km away. With the new 2nd carrier strike group, the US navy in Alnus was observing naval fights from south to north, the north was the only one that showed some action as the coalition didn't want to engage the strongest fleet of the Harkans located south.
ALNUS BASE
12:45PM
And it was a rather peaceful day for the US military not having to deal with the civil war from now on. Mark was in the jade palace eventually meeting up with the other ambassadors when they returned from their tour. Alex was still on the outpost and wasn't allowed in the palace because of important reasons.
But back to Alnus, the german bundeswehr and JSDF forces were conducting a live fire training on CTC (Combat Training Center). They were trained by NCOs on how to take down an enemy far different as what they're trained to do.
The individual thuds on the distant abrams were heard as the army NCOs began their training. A cardboard cut out, familiar to every soldier in the world, but this time the NCO has some explaining to do, because it was no ordinary cardboard cut out it was a cut out of an imperial soldier.
He was explaining the best spots to hit the soldier depending on the armor type they wore and how far they have to shoot in order for a guarantee penetration. Because not all soldiers of the imperial or any army around the special region wear the same armor. Some dont wear armor at all because it depends on their wealth if they can even afford armor in the first place.
It was basically just an ordinary day for the US military, and the Highland village was also peaceful.
"Hey kid!" A marine walked up to a child, "you want some candy?"
The child hesitant but nodded with a smile, "sure?.."
The marine sighed, "i dont have any candy.. you want a hand grenade?"
"What the hell?!"
VURDUN GROVES
"Ah fuck!" Cursed out Elafer after he fell down a tree branch trying to get some sleep. The fairy then flew down on his head, it jingled, a way to say it was laughing.
"Yeah real funny.. I could've died and everyone here would've been killed by the harkans." Elafer got up scoffing the fairy.
It followed him after the fairy lost itself from where it was currently living, so it decided to follow the dwarf even if he tried to make it go away. But eventually he learned to just go with it, besides he has different problems to face.
He grunted, "how am i still not halfway through the harkan controlled lands!? Ive been walking for two days STRAIGHT!" His voice echoed as he yelled.
He nodded to himself before murmuring, "Okay. That was dumb, shouldn't have screamed.."
The fairy tinkled at him as a response.
"Oh wow what great advice, you couldn't said that.. THREE SE-" he controlled himself before he could lash out again, "im sorry, im hungry and tired i just need some rest, or.. i could find a horse!"
The fairy tinkled, and Elafer was quick to reply, "no i wont eat the horse. Its like a way to travel faster, and probably loose you finally."
The fairy tinkled, it paused for a split second before it tinkled again.
"Ohhh really? Yeah ive known you travel faster than horses, because im a damn dwarf that suppose to know things! Elves aren't just the smart guys around woods okay?"
The fairy tinkled once. Before it started to tinkle more.
Elafer sighed, "What am i even trying to send?.. its this.." Elafer then opened the small sling bag pulling out a scrolled letter, "i cant open it, if i did, ill loose worthy of being the King's trusted envoy.. but it's the key to end this war once and for all."
The two walked around the groves, Elafer was hungry, but the Vurdun groves only has deers as a food source, not even berries or fruit and he only has a dagger. So he had to get creative.
He started looking for a straight tree branch, just the perfect size. Not too long not too wide and not too thin just equal. Deers are abundant in these groves and it didn't took long for him to find a deer the moment he finished crafting his upgraded dagger.
Since he's a dwarf, he is small enough to hide behind bushes and foliage, and his feet despite big actually makes less sound because of the shoes he wears. He started sneaking behind the deer who was sniffing around the dirt. And then he leaped forward and plunged the spear directly at the deer's head.
It killed the creature instantly and Elafer dragged it away so predators wont steal it from him.
"Now i need a way to cook it." Mumbled Elafer.
He gathered some supplies and started skinning the deer, his hunting skills he had as a kid was still great use even til this day because this is how his dad feeds the family in the past before they got wealthy because of Elafer's job on serving the King.
Elafer finished setting up everything in half an hour, firewood which was everywhere, and a large sharp stick he sharpened with his dagger, and skewered the deer meat. Now all he needs is fire which he doesn't have any tools to make fire and the weather was not perfect to cause a natural fire, he was at a lost.
"I think i have to eat this raw then.." Elafer sighed embracing for a not so delicious lunch.
But the fairy flew infront of him, "What do you want? Fairies dont eat dont they?"
The fairy tinkled once as a yes, before it continued tinkling.
Elafer showed a confused face before the fairy flew near the fire wood, it glowed orange before it ignited one of the steaks and created fire that slowly got bigger.
"Oh right!" Elafer snapped his fingers, "Fairies are elemental magic beings, you're a fire fairy!.. i can't say much but thank you! You saved my life from getting killed by raw meat!"
The fairy tinkled once.
Then Elafer sat down waiting for the meat to cook, but he started to worry if he will ever make it to the other side. He wasn't this capable of traveling far distances without any help, because that's the reason he can travel such places. He has help from people when he's in danger, and his luck made him ideal for the king.
"What will the world be if i die trying to deliver this letter." He mumbled to himself, "will dad and mom be okay?"
The fairy tinkled.
"Hm.. i was not really expecting to be Majesty Molt's favorite envoy, i know what i was getting myself into but its just a way to payback my family from how hard working they are for my survival."
He continued, "i guess.. im forced to stay breathing, in order not to get them killed. Ill risk my life with it.."
The fairy tinkled once and Elafer looked at the meat.
He cursed, "shit its burnt!" He sighed after turning it around pausing for a moment, "If i cant make it.. then emroy help them for what will the Harkans do to them. And i hope my father forgives me for failing to save Falmart."
As he said it a wyvern group flew overhead, he knew they saw the smoke and the fire, so he immediately extinguished it before running away while simultaneously biting the meat off the stick. The fairy followed him til he reached to his destination as it had nowhere else to go anymore.
Elafer looked overhead as he sees the end of the Vurdun groves and a new location to pass by. A village in ruins, what's once a thriving one, he sighed ready for his next adventure,
"lets get this letter to the kingdom. Or die trying.."