DE Vol. 1 pt. 65

Five Volcanic Predators units. Just under a hundred Volcano Hounds in total. Their lives were officially in danger, and it would take a combination of strategy and luck to keep as many of them as possible alive.

Since we weren’t just rushing a brand-new settlement without any defenders, I was considerably more careful about placing them at the start.

The enemy’s camp was at top left corner of the map. The Volcanic Predators could only be placed in a rectangular section near the bottom right of the map. Since we had no idea what we were up against, and my army was basically composed entirely of fast-moving, hard-hitting, but squishy cavalry units, I chose to spread them out among the trees which created a symbol next to their icons that showed they were disguised from the enemy.

That worked in our favor. Even if they were Volcano Hounds who lived among basalt plains and around volcanoes rather than in dense forests, they were still able to benefit from hiding within a forest.

So, with the units spread out as much as I could, it was time for the battle to begin.

Everybody was gathered around to watch at the Council Pavilion.

“Is spreading them out really the best choice?” Thad asked me.

“The more spread out they are, the better the chances of us finding out the enemy’s positions,” I answered. “Plus they’re hidden. If we find one enemy unit, we can potentially ambush them from behind while they’re engaged with whichever unit found them.”

Unfortunately, I had to admit that such tactics weren’t what I was best at.

What I was best at was a one-city strategy. That often involved very copious amounts of turtling. In similar games, my favorite strategy for battles was also regarded as one of the “noobiest” strategies… and that was camping in a corner of the map with long-range artillery units. Dedicate half the army to artillery and then half the army to protecting said artillery. Form a box in a corner of the map, and then shell the enemy from a distance and force them to come to me. That was how I liked to play battles. Being the aggressor was something I rarely ever did, especially with fast, squishy units like the Volcanic Predators.

But I had faith in them.

“Just walk,” I ordered them. “Don’t burn through your energy by running through the woods. Approach their settlement at a walking speed unless you encounter an enemy, in which case wait for orders but prepare to go full speed either in attack or retreat.”

The Volcano Hounds were able to hear me give them orders during the battle, so they all switched to a slower speed as they cautiously walked through the forest surrounding the enemy settlement.

So far, so clear.

It wouldn’t be that much longer before they got close to the settlement, but I was worried. Things were too quiet. I would have preferred catching some of the enemy units out in the forest since then that would mean fewer potential enemies concentrated at the settlement, but—

The front most Volcanic Predators unit dropped to a third of its total health in an instant. A volley of arrows shot into them and killed several of them instantly, and we still couldn’t even see the enemy unit that shot them. All we could see was the direction the arrows were coming from, and that was to the northwest of the unit.

And then another volley from the southeast chunked their health even more.

Then another from the northeast.

“Fall back!” I ordered. “Go southwest and—”

Another volley from the southwest peppered the few remaining Volcano Hounds of the unit. By the time only a sliver of their health was left, the very first enemy unit must have reloaded their bows as they shot a volley that finished the Volcanic Predators off.

Taking a deep breath was the only way to not let myself vomit after that.

Nearly twenty Volcano Hounds just died before they could even see the enemy. All they saw were arrows shot from seemingly nothing.

Not only were we down one unit, but this confirmed that they had at least four ranged units and that their units could see us before we could see them.

Considering that the enemy would also have a Camp Guard unit again, since they had one by default when we attacked Hylrmenel, that meant they had at least five units while we only had four remaining. Their archers were capable of serious damage, too.

The mood around degraded almost instantly. While most were excited or at least hopeful, none of that remained… save for from Enna who placed her hand atop my hand nearest to her. “You—you can still win,” she said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself of that as much as she was trying to convince me of it. “I believe in you!”

“Don’t believe in me,” I replied. “Believe in the hounds over there. They’re the ones who are going to win this.”

With the mood as it was and Enna’s faith in me—well, there was no way I could disappoint them. There was no way I was going to let that unit’s deaths be in vain, either.

Spreading them out was the right choice after all.

The enemies were grouped at least slightly close together. Ours were spread out through the forest.

It was also clear that all of their units were hidden within the forest. We never got close enough to see them, but they were able to see us.

“Full speed, charge their camp while going wide of where the lost unit was,” I ordered.

“What about the enemy?!” Thad asked.

“They’re in the forest, not their camp. They were hoping to deal with us before we could ever get to their camp, leaving it vulnerable in the process. If we capture their flag, all we have to do then is wait for victory. But we’re not just going to wait.”

Thad looked confused, but he was more interested in watching the screen as our remaining Volcanic Predators charged toward the enemy camp at full speed. Once they were close enough and have a line of sight on it, they revealed that the default Camp Guard unit was stationed at the flag.

The guards were slaughtered in an instant due to the combined strength of four Volcanic Predators units ripping into them. And once the guards were dead, since other enemies were still alive, we took control of the settlement’s flag which began a countdown of five minutes.

Five minutes of keeping their flag under control was all that we needed to win.

“Get back into the forest,” I ordered. “Go out through the sides of the settlement and then move to behind it while staying in the forest. Get right up to the map border.”

“Abandoning the flag right after capturing it?” Zira asked.

“The alternative is to let them sit there on it while waiting to get surrounded and gunned down. But if the enemy wants to recapture it, they’re going to have to leave the comfort of the forest.”

Some hope returned to those watching as the Volcanic Predators ran back into the forest. Following my order, they went out through the sides before heading to behind the settlement, tucking themselves between it and the battlefield border in a line of forest there.

Two minutes passed and the enemy showed no interest in retaking their flag. That was more than enough time for them to reach it if they wanted to retake it, so that meant they were more interested in something else.

Hunting us.

They wanted to avoid being seen, so they were staying out of their camp.

“Full speed, charge south through the camp and stay together,” I ordered. “Go out through the other side back into the forest.”

Enna was the first to speak up after that order, and she looked excited. “I think I get it! You know they’re looking for our units, so you’re moving them before they can get surrounded?”

“Exactly. It would only be a matter of time before they find our units, and we know that the enemy isn’t directly south of them or else they would be in the settlement. They’re probably closing in on us right now, so we have to move.”

It wasn’t a very honorable battle, but it was one we were going to win through a technicality.

Three minutes had passed by the time our Volcanic Predators passed through the settlement again and entered the forest to the south of it.

Only two minutes were left on the timer for the flag. As long as that flag remained under our control for two minutes… we’d win.

And with only two minutes left, that meant the Viking Elves couldn’t spare to ignore their flag any longer.

The moment some of their units came out from the forest to head for their flag, I gave another order, “Charge them.”

Our Volcanic Predators left the forest to charge straight back into the settlement… prompting the Viking Elves to retreat back into the forest.

“Fall back,” I ordered.

The Volcano Hounds were starting to look annoyed, but they listened to my orders regardless. They all retreated back into the forest before they could be fired on.

More importantly, we scared the enemies off from their flag. They were planning on baiting us out, retreating, and firing on us from their hiding spots in the forest. They probably didn’t consider that I was planning on them doing that. Most likely, they expected me to be afraid of them taking the flag and to charge our units straight at them… when all I ever wanted to do was trick them into going back to their forest.

“We baited their baiting,” I explained. “Only one minute left now.”

“Assuming we can hold the flag,” Zira said.

“We will. We’ve already won.” I felt confident enough to say that even as I watched as all four of their ranged units came out from the forest to rush for their flag.

“Not if they capture their flag.”

“They won’t.” I spoke up to the Volcanic Predators. “Charge into the enemy. No retreating this time. Contest the flag until we win. Tear our enemy apart and show them just how sharp your claws are.”

The Volcanic Predators looked hyped up. They also left the forest in a charge before the enemy could even reach the flag.

While the enemy was going to reach their flag before we did, it took about thirty seconds to actually claim the flag.

And that was thirty seconds without fighting for it.

For as long as even one of our units was alive and within the flag’s capture zone, they would pause the capture of the flag and allow the countdown to continue. The enemy needed to fully capture it if they wanted to stop us, and that meant they needed to kill all of our Volcanic Predators before the timer could hit zero.

And that wasn’t going to happen.

Three of the Viking Elves’ ranged units stopped in their tracks to open fire on the charging Volcanic Predators while the fourth unit kept marching for the flag.

Since I doubted we would need all four units on the flag capture zone to keep it contested, I split off two of the units to go and attack the nearest enemies while the other two went for the flag zone.

The Viking Elves’ ranged units were no jokes. Even with barely any time to prepare their shots, they took chunks out of our units’ health and killed a considerable amount of them… but without focusing everybody on a single unit like before, they weren’t able to take them out before being reached.

And once our Volcanic Predators reached the archers, they proved just how deadly they were in close quarters. Charging into their line like cavalry, the Volcanic Predators lunged into their targets and knocked them down onto their backs, pinning them down to the ground as they used their massive claws to rip the enemies apart.

The ranged attacks might have done a number to our units pretty quickly, but we did even more damage even faster to them once we actually reached them. That confirmed what I already knew: that our Volcanic Predators units were glass cannons to an extreme degree. Extremely easy to kill, but extremely deadly in melee combat.

We would have won just from finally reaching their units to shred them apart even without the flag’s countdown. But, because we did maintain control of the flag, the timer hit zero and the battle came to an end before we could even kill a single one of their units.

Not that it mattered. As far as games like this were concerned, all units defeated in “siege” battles were as good as dead even if they survived the battle. Retreating during field battles was a thing, but not settlement battles.

But that didn’t matter.

What mattered was that we won and took from our enemy the settlement that would guarantee their dominance if they were allowed to keep it.

The mood around me might have turned dark when we lost our first unit before ever even seeing the enemy, but the mood became one of joyous celebrations once it was clear we won.

It was hard for me to cheer and celebrate as much as everybody else was, even with Enna wrapped her arms around me for a tight hug which pushed her abundant chest against me, but all I could think about were the few lives we lost.

Even if we only lost a handful of lives, and even if they were going to return to their home world without any negative effects, that still felt like too many to me.

The most I could do to celebrate was let out a long breath I didn’t realize I was holding in.