IDWTBTHQ Chapter 113 - The Battle of Treval part 3

Many birds were flying high in the sky above Treval. Most of them were just scavengers drawn in by the ongoing battle, but other creatures were also present. Some of them looked like a mix between lizards and dragonflies, and they seemed to follow the battle below with particular interest —a correct assessment, because of course they were Vex Flyer drones, and through their eyes their Queen was watching the battle while hidden in a small wood about ten kilometers away.

“The defenders have retreated from the walls.” He said, using his Copy Drone to report his findings to Trakk and Eisen, who were with the goblin army marching towards Treval. “They are all going inside the citadel now. The orcs are trying to pursue them, but Yasen and the other Aura Users are keeping them occupied. Oh, and some of the orcs have probably noticed us, since they are pointing at us and shouting. The oni is doing that as well.”

“Excellent.” Trakk said, as calmly as usual. “We made it in time then.” He smirked. “And I guess that takes care of the prophecy then. The Blue Terror did technically manage to take a city, for all the good it will do to him. Now it's time we take it back.”

“Oh, so that's why Yasen retreated from the walls as soon as he noticed us?” Marcus asked.

“I doubt it.” The marquis chimed in. “He's not someone to care too much about prophecies.” He paused and looked pensive for a moment. “I think he did it because trying to hold the walls would have caused more casualties than just retreating into the citadel.”

“A good call.” The Goblin General nodded approvingly. “The orcs can't attack them without leaving themselves vulnerable.”

“But now that there is no one stopping them, can't the orcs just stay inside the city and use the walls to defend against us?” Marcus asked, making his copy-drone raising an eyebrow in puzzlement.

“We can certainly hope so.”  Trakk replied with an amused grin. “They'd save us a lot of work trapping themselves like that. Not to mention that without ranged weapons of their own they'd basically be sitting ducks while we pick them safely from a distance.”

“Oh.” The copy drone nodded. “That makes sense.”

“I don't think they'll do that though.” The general continued. “Given their usual aggressiveness, it's much more likely that they'll leave a small garrison inside of the city while the rest march out to face us in the open.”

“Understood.” Marcus said. “We're going to follow the plan we made earlier then? You and your goblins hold the center, while my drones take up the wings, right?”

“Yes.” Trakk confirmed. “That would be the best course of action. Your drones' speed will allow them to maneuver quickly and surround the orcs while we hold them in place.”

“So I will be the hammer while you guys are the anvil, right?” The Vex Queen asked with a ferocious smirk.

“Exactly.” The goblin replied with a smile of his own. “Assuming everything goes as planned, that is.” Then he stared Marcus —or rather his copy— in the eyes and turned serious. “Speaking of which, try your best to stay safe. We can't afford to lose you.”

“Don't worry!” The Vex Queen reassured him. “Believe it or not, but staying alive is one of my top priorities!”

“I’m serious.” Trakk insisted. “If the oni knows about your existence —and he probably does— then he's definitely going to try and kill you. And if you die, we don’t know how your drones are going to respond.”

“Well, I'm more than ten kilometers away from Treval, surrounded by several hundreds of my Warriors, a few Aura Users and my friend Felix.” Marcus replied. “Plus, I got a Wyvern here with me in case I need to get away. I can't see how could I be any safer than this.”

“Just be careful not to drop your guard.” The goblin insisted. “Stay alert and be ready to run away if things get dangerous for you, even if that means leaving your companions behind. If we lose you we lose the battle, so don’t play the hero like you did back in Brettholz.”

Marcus mentally groaned at those words. Like most people, Trakk had misunderstood his actions during the siege of Brettholz and now thought that he had some sort of hero complex. But in reality, the Vex Queen hadn’t been particularly heroic: he simply thought he was going to die anyway and decided that he’d rather go out with some dignity, saving his friends in the process, rather than die  like a coward.

“I really ought to explain how things really went one day.” He thought to himself, but right now there wasn’t the time for that, so he just nodded.

“Fine.” Marcus replied. “If I think I’m in danger, I’ll book it without questions then.” He paused, and then added: “By the way, doesn’t the whole killing the leader thing go both ways? I mean, if we kill the oni, wouldn’t the orcs be basically neutralized?”

“In the long term, probably yes.” Trakk promptly answered. “I don’t think they are going to be able to act as a unified army for long without the Blue Terror’s lead. However, in the short term, they are still going to be a threat for us.” He paused for a moment and then said: “However, killing the oni should still be our top priority. Even if we win today, if the oni manages to escape he could raise another army, so this conflict won’t truly be over until he’s dead.”

“Good. Because that's also exactly what I came here to do!” A new voice chimed in, and Alya Vilka made her appearance, approaching the trio of commanders.

“Ah, good day master Vilka.” Eisen immediately saluted her with a respectful nod. “What brings you here, if I may ask?”

“I wanted to inform you that I'll join you and the goblins at the center of the army.” The wolfwoman replied nonchalantly. “I want to join the fight from the start.”

“Oh, that's perfectly fine.” The marquis said. “We can use all the help we can get.”

“Weren't you going to wait and see where the oni would be?” Marcus asked. “I thought he was your priority.”

“Yeah, but I could use some exercise before I fight him.” Alya said. “I've been slacking a bit too much in the past few days and killing a few orcs and ogres will be a good warm up.”

“Suit yourself.” The Vex Queen replied. “But I'm not going to keep the oni alive for you. If I can kill him with my drones, I will.”

“That's fine.” The Aura Master shrugged. “If your minions manage to kill him then he is just too weak to be an interesting challenge for me.”

In his real body, Marcus grinned at those words, not doubting even for a moment that the wolfwoman meant them. In the days they have spent traveling together he had gotten to know Alya a bit, and she always spoke her mind freely, to the point of coming off as quite rude most of the time. But the Vex Queen appreciated that sort of brutal honesty and had warmed up a bit to the Aura Master as a result. He still felt a bit intimidated by her —not to mention the weird sexual confusion she caused him— but now he felt confident enough to actually casually talk with her, exchanging the occasional quip and snarky remark with the wolfwoman, who didn’t seem to mind and actually answered in kind.

The Vex Queen was just about to make another playful comment, when his attention was taken by something else. He quickly shifted his focus to the walls of Treval, and after a few seconds he made his copy-drone report what he had seen.

“The orcs are getting out of the city.” He announced. “Seems like you were right, Trakk. They are preparing to fight us in an open battle.”

“Get moving, you maggots!” Blueskin shouted at the top of his lungs. “We don't have all day!”

He was standing on top of the gates of Treval, watching his troops exit the city. The news of the incoming enemy army had caused some discontent among the soldiers and the Blue Terror had decided to personally supervise their deployment as a way to restore morale. That seemed to have worked well too, since after making an example of the first three who had dared to openly complain the others had fallen in line without a hitch. After all, no one wanted to end up with their head bitten off by their boss!

The oni burped. That meal had replenished the energies the oni had spent fighting against Yasen Harp, and with his stamina restored and his belly pleasantly full, he felt much better about the current situation.

Initially he had panicked a bit when he had seen that humongous army on the horizon, but after he had calmed down enough to consult the memories of the Royal Knight he had eaten he had discovered that things weren’t as bleak as they had first seemed. The defenders were indeed expecting reinforcements, but those weren’t the actual Medelan army, but rather the militia from the neighboring province of Brettholz —the same force that had been expecting the orcs at the borders of the forest and that was composed mostly of goblins and the bug-lizard creatures known as Vex, which he had fought once in the Medelanian outpost in the Ashwood Hills. This piece of news had actually greatly reassured Blueskin, since in his experience neither of those races could compete with the orcs in a fight and their numerical advantage wasn’t big enough for them to possibly hope to win. Sure, they might have been dangerous if they managed to catch the orcs by surprise, but in an open battle the Blue Terror felt completely confident in his chances to win, which was the reason why he had ordered his troops to march out of the city to meet their enemy in an open field, leaving only a small garrison to keep the people of Treval trapped in their citadel.

However, as he watched the enemy army slowly getting closer, there was something that bugged him a bit, and that thing was —somewhat fittingly— the Vex. From the memories he had absorbed from the telemancer in the forest just a few months before, the Vex back then couldn't have been more than a few hundreds, while now there were several thousands of them. And if that wasn't enough, there was also that eerie presence on the horizon —an aura that was clearly very far away from him but so strong that he could easily perceive it nonetheless. Not even the dragon's aura had been quite as powerful, and the oni wondered what manner of creature it could belong to. From the memories of the Aura User, he knew that the Queen of the Vex did have a very strong aura, but as far as the man had been able to recall it wasn’t anything like what Blueskin was feeling right now!

If it was her though, it meant that not only the Vex population grew at an exponential rate, but so did their Queen’s aura. This was something that the oni couldn’t ignore, because even though he thought he could easily win right now, the Vex could still be a potential threat in the future. Also, from what he knew about her, the Vex Queen shared a lot of similarities with him and the other reincarnators, having come from the Caligare Forest, possessing rare powers and being able to talk and make plans. It was likely that she had also been isekai’d herself, and that made it all the more important that she was dealt with as soon as possible.

Besides, in the memories the Knight had about her, there was a hint of her being able to control her minions with her mind, so maybe her minions would have been neutralized by her death.

“Makes sense.” He told himself. “In sci-fi movies, in order to defeat huge swarms of invading alien insects you have to kill their queen!” He smirked. “Now, this is actually more of a fantasy setting, but I think the same principle could apply.”

He thought about it for a moment, and decided that it was worth a try. While he felt confident that he could win nonetheless, without the Vex he should be able to capture even more goblins alive, which would have been a great boon for the growth of his troops,perhaps making up for the unexpected losses they had suffered during the siege.

However, he was too busy leading the army to go after the Vex Queen himself, so he had to send someone else in his stead. He sighed, a bit saddened by the fact that wouldn’t be able to taste the aura of the Vex Queen himself, but sometimes some sacrifices were inevitable. Then he called for the one he had decided to entrust this mission to.

“Tiny!” He screamed, loud enough to be heard over the noise of his marching army. “Tiny! Come here right now!”

He only had to wait for a few seconds before the ogress made her appearance. She had ditched the armor she had used to impersonate him and had even returned to her natural color, but one thing had remained the same: she still wore the same sour face she had kept ever since the oni had ordered her to act as his body double for the battle.

“What is it, Blue?” She asked in a rather weary voice.

“I have a new mission for you.” The oni replied. “I need you to go kill the Queen of the Vex.”

“Who?” She asked, raising an eyebrow in puzzlement.

“She's the leader of those bug-things out there, the Vex.” Blueskin explained. “She is a humanoid creature with gray skin, glowing eyes and a horn on her forehead. She should be somewhere in that direction.”

And he pointed at the direction from which the strong aura came from.

Tiny narrowed her eyes as her expression became rather suspicious.

“Why do you want her dead?” She asked.

“She could become dangerous in the future.” The oni replied. “Also, she probably controls the Vex and without her they would be neutralized.”

“Fine.” The ogress nodded. “What else can you tell me about her? Is she strong? Does she have someone with her?”

“I don't know for sure.” Blueskin shrugged. “I know she has a very strong aura, but I’m not sure she can make use of it in battle. I guess you’ll have to find out yourself”

The ogress remained silent for a moment, looking quite pensive before finally giving an answer.

“I’m going to need help.” She said. “I don’t know enough about the target to risk facing her openly. So I need to take a few ogres with me to cause a distraction I can use to kill her before she can react.”

“Take whatever you think you need.” Blueskin conceded. “However, you have to kill the Vex Queen, no matter the cost. I don’t care what you have to do, do not let her get away.”

“As you order, boss!” Tiny saluted, and then, after making sure the oni didn’t have any other order for her, she turned and walked away.

The oni watched her go for a moment, and then he walked away as well. He too had work to do, and a battle to win.